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Dec
Tom Coburn – Dr. No
The Wall Street Journal has a good article about Senator Tom Coburn, who has blocked 90 bills in 2007. We should all be thankful to him for stopping wasteful projects.
Stopping stuff is Sen. Coburn’s specialty. In a Congress that has had trouble passing even the simplest legislation, Sen. Coburn, who proudly wears the nickname “Dr. No,” is a one-man gridlock machine. This year, the senator, who indeed is a medical doctor, single-handedly blocked or slowed more than 90 bills, driving lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to distraction.
In a time where our Congressmen and Senators clearly are on a spending spree, Dr. Coburn actually stops bills to make them be debated without having them simply rushed through the Senate. He uses a tactic called a “Hold” to accomplish this.
Sometimes, Dr. Coburn, an obstetrician who sees patients one morning a week, disagrees with the proposals. As a fiscal conservative, he usually objects to what he sees as excess spending. Sometimes, he just wants to force a debate or improve on items that would otherwise fly through the Senate. In a crowded legislative calendar, not everything gets the scrutiny voters might imagine.
Dr. Coburn’s weapon of choice is the “hold,” a procedural maneuver that allows a single senator to prevent a bill from being passed quickly without a roll-call vote or floor debate. Until a rule change this year, senators could keep their holds secret, and they usually did. Dr. Coburn notifies colleagues about his intentions.
We need more of this type of person in Washington – one that will actually look at bills in their entirety and not rush them through due to lack of time or the guilt-ridden name that is often times attached to a bill. He goes on to say that just because he uses a perfectly legitimate tactic, he is not exclusively to blame:
Dr. Coburn says he isn’t to blame for slow progress. Democrats used too much floor time debating the Iraq war, he says, and tried to move too many bills on the fast track. He notes he didn’t try to stop the spending bill, the only legislation Congress technically must pass in order to keep the government running.
[...] Thomas has some profound praise for the one-man gridlock machine Senator Tom Coburn: We need more of this type of person in [...]
December 21st, 2007 at 1:59 pm[...] December 21, 2007 · No Comments Cross-posted from The Roundtable [...]
December 21st, 2007 at 2:09 pmMerry Christmas, Craig!
December 25th, 2007 at 9:39 am[...] Cross-posted from The Roundtable [...]
December 30th, 2007 at 2:22 pm[...] are hearing that Obama wants change in this country. However, Tom Coburn (who I wrote about here), desires real change that would stop us from bankrupting this country. The video is fairly short [...]
April 11th, 2008 at 11:02 amIt would be interesting to know why Senator Obama mentioned Tom Coburns name this evening during his debate with John McCain. Dr. NO? Gridlock? Holding/Hogging the ball? When is the “Exclusive Congressional Club” going to realize that bills that impact other peoples lives are not some sort of game equivalent to Monday Night football. Such elitism does not represent or do justice to the common man nor does it behoove the long term interests of our country or its people. Cooperation and compromise should not be confused with needing to win a Congressional popularity contest. Sometimes you need to think ‘outside’ of the box in order to be IN.
September 26th, 2008 at 11:07 pmAddendum:
When I speak of elitism, I am not attributing it to a Candidate, by any means, but to a pack mentality by some in power that are more interested in being popular than doing the right thing, especially when it is easier not to. On the other hand, if Coburn is being unreasonable the majority of the time, he in turn should remember that principle and compromise must always be balanced in the best interest of the people and long term good of the nation. It was the “Club” mentality that got this Country into the current financial dilemma its in. A TRUE LEADER knows how to balance diplomacy and the need to sometimes be ‘unpopular’ for the long term good of the people, especially in terms of preserving the Ideals upon which the Country was founded.
September 26th, 2008 at 11:25 pmExample:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/11/AR2006021101024.html
September 26th, 2008 at 11:31 pmFYI:
“Coburn won the last round, but this time Reid has Winfrey on his side. The daytime TV star, who draws 44 million viewers weekly, was not seen as much of a political activist until she threw her support behind Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.). Now Winfrey has squared off against Coburn, who has blocked S. 1738, the Combating Child Exploitation Act.
September 27th, 2008 at 12:21 amWinfrey asked her viewers Monday to call and write the Senate to demand their support for the legislation, sponsored by Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden (Del.).”