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NEWS ABOUT: Tom Coburn

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Top 1% Nabs $30B a Year in Federal 'Welfare'

Sen. Coburn investigates massive handouts

(Newser) - They’re already in the top 1%, yet they’re getting government handouts worth more than NASA’s budget. American millionaires rake in $30 billion a year from the feds, Republican Sen. Tom Coburn finds in a new report. That’s three times the EPA’s yearly allotment, yet it’... More »

GOP Debt Co-Chair: No Deal in Sight

Super committee talks 'like a roller coaster ride'

(AP) - The Republican co-chair of a committee in charge of slashing the nation's deficit on today called deliberations a "roller coaster ride" and gave no indication that a deal could be struck before the panel's Thanksgiving deadline. Texas Rep. Jeb Hensarling said the panel will fail unless Democrats... More »

Deal With Coburn Prevents FAA Shutdown

He'll get to insert language in upcoming bill

(Newser) - The FAA won't be shutting down after all. Under heavy pressure from fellow Republicans, Tom Coburn relented last night, removing a hold preventing the Senate from passing a transportation bill that would keep the FAA's doors open. The bill passed with flying colors, with only Coburn and five... More »

Coburn Holds FAA Hostage With One-Man Filibuster

Agency could face a second shutdown

(Newser) - The FAA could soon be shut down again, costing thousands of workers their jobs and the government $30 million a day in airline ticket taxes, all thanks to a single Republican senator. Tom Coburn is exploiting a Senate procedural rule requiring unanimous consent to switch from working on one bill... More »

Shrimp on Treadmill Study Not So Wacky: Irritated Researcher

Lawmakers mocking research are playing politics, scientists say

(Newser) - "Shrimp on a treadmill" has become a byphrase for wasteful government spending. But the scientist behind the study says lawmakers are distorting the facts. The treadmill test—singled out by Sen. Tom Coburn in an attack on National Science Foundation funding —was designed to study shrimp's reaction... More »

Coburn: 'Good Thing I Can't Pack a Gun' in Senate

Otherwise, those 'cowards' would be in trouble

(Newser) - Today's exercise in whether a politician's joke goes too far, courtesy of Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn: "It's just a good thing I can't pack a gun on the Senate floor," said the Republican, after describing his colleagues as "cowards" and a "bunch... More »

Behind the Gang of Six's Resurrection: Tom Coburn

Many Senate Republicans now back deal that includes new revenues

(Newser) - Tom Coburn got the old gang back together yesterday—the “Gang of Six” that is—reviving hopes that the Senate could forge a major debt reduction deal. “I’m back,” Coburn declared before a crowd of almost 50 senators from both parties, to a resounding round of... More »

GOP's Coburn Bares Plan for Mass Cuts, $1T Tax Boost

Medicare, Pentagon on chopping block in plan to slice $9T in debt

(AP) - One of the Senate's staunchest budget-cutters has unveiled a massive plan to cut the nation's deficit by $9 trillion over the coming decade, including $1 trillion in tax increases opposed by most of his fellow Republicans. Sen. Tom Coburn's plan is laced with politically perilous proposals—like... More »

Senate Likely to Vote on McConnell Debt Deal

They'll also vote on a balanced budget amendment

(Newser) - Mitch McConnell and Harry Reid are busily hammering out a debt ceiling Plan B, and are likely to put it to a vote in the coming week, senior Democratic aides tell Reuters . It would be based on McConnell's widely panned plan to allow Democrats to raise the ceiling, but... More »

Senate Reverses, Votes to Cut Ethanol Subsidies

Shift could endanger $5 billion annually for farm states

(AP) - The Senate voted today to repeal tax credits for producing ethanol, a vote that budget cutters hope will demonstrate a growing appetite in Congress to end special interest tax breaks to help reduce government borrowing. The Senate voted 73-27 to repeal the $5 billion annual subsidy, just two days after... More »

Misquoting Founders Is a Political Epidemic

You can't believe all you read online

(Newser) - Between the current interest in America’s founders and a “willingness to believe” the Internet, political misquotes are flying these days, writes David A. Fahrenthold in the Washington Post . A look over the past two years of C-SPAN and the Congressional Record shows that politicians—including congressmen, senators, and... More »

'Wasteful' Shrimp on Treadmill Study Blasted

But scientists fire back at Senator's Coburn report

(Newser) - The National Science Foundation is being given too much money if it can afford to fund experiments that involve putting shrimp on treadmills or creating laundry-folding robots, grumbles Sen. Tom Coburn. The Oklahoma Republican has released a report criticizing the agency, which receives some $7 billion in federal funding a... More »

Gang of One: Coburn Writing His Own Budget

Oklahoma Republican says his will tackle Medicare, Medicaid

(Newser) - Tom Coburn may have left the Gang of Six over unsuccessful attempts to carve out a deficit deal, but he's still in the game. The Oklahoma Republican says he's writing his own budget plan, with a focus on cuts to Medicare and Medicaid. “I want everybody to... More »

Coburn Drops From Gang of Six Talks

Says he sees no point, citing differences with Democrats

(AP) - A top Republican senator in the bipartisan "Gang of Six" seeking agreement on a plan to cut the deficit by $4 trillion over the next decade dropped out of the group today, saying that his colleagues weren't willing to cut enough from benefit programs like Medicare. Tom Coburn... More »

Geithner: Congress Will Raise Debt Ceiling

And 'Gang of 6' close to a deal

(Newser) - Congress is "absolutely" going to raise the debt ceiling, says Tim Geithner, because to do otherwise would be "catastrophic" and "the responsible people understand." "We’d tip the US economy and the world economy back into recession, depression," he said. "It would... More »

Senate's ‘Gang of Six’ Tackles Deficit Head-On

Plan would require core compromises by Democrats and Republicans

(Newser) - The soaring national debt is making strange bedfellows in the Senate: A bipartisan "Gang of Six" has been secretly working for months, and now appears as the leading hope in negotiations, with both sides willing to sacrifice their sacred cows. For Democrats, that means deep cuts to Medicare and... More »

Senate Probe: Goldman Sachs Shafted Clients, Lied to Us

Recommends perjury charges for Blankfein

(Newser) - Goldman Sachs may have criminally misled its clients when it sold them mortgage-backed securities without mentioning that Goldman itself would profit if they failed, the Senate’s Subcommittee on Investigations has concluded, recommending that the Justice Department and SEC consider pressing charges. The panel also recommended perjury charges against CEO... More »

Feds Often Have 75 Programs Doing One Thing: Review

GAO recommends combining some

(Newser) - The government is positively brimming with overlapping programs and offices, potentially producing billions in waste, according to a new report from the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office. There are, for example, 82 federal programs for improving teacher quality, 80 for helping poor people with their transportation needs, 47 for job training... More »

Senators to Buck Tradition at State of the Union

Democrat Chuck Schumer and GOP's Tom Coburn will sit together

(Newser) - Aiming for a more civil tone, a pair of senators from opposite parties will buck tradition and sit together at the State of the Union. Oklahoma Republican Tom Coburn and New York Democrat Chuck Schumer’s decision follows a push for civility in politics after the Tucson shootings. Schumer said... More »

Pundits, Politicians Spar Over Tucson Shooting

Some blame loopholes, others mental health treatment

(Newser) - Jared Lee Loughner got rejected from the Army for "excessive" drug use, yet was allowed to buy a gun because of a loophole that Sen. Chuck Schumer wants to close, reports the Hill. The New York Democrat is writing the White House to ask that the Pentagon be forced... More »

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