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NEWS ABOUT: Tom Coburn

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 »

Congress Passes Bill for 9/11 First Responders

Republicans drop opposition in the Senate

(Newser) - The clout of Jon Stewart : Congress today approved the bill to provide health care for 9/11 first responders and sent it to President Obama for his signature. The House passed the measure late this afternoon (206-60) after the Senate did so earlier in the day, reports AP . The big breakthrough... More »

Sen. Inhofe Takes a Stand for Earmarks

...putting him at odds with fellow Oklahoma GOPer Tom Coburn

(Newser) - Not all Republicans are in a hurry to ban earmarks . Oklahoma Senator Jim Inhofe is taking a stand in favor of the perennial political punching bag, and it’s put him in direct conflict with his state’s other Republican senator, Tom Coburn, Politico reports. Inhofe recently derided an unnamed... More »

Months Later, Lone Senator Holding Up Aid to Haiti

1 million remain homeless

(AP) - Nearly nine months after the earthquake, more than a million Haitians still live on the streets between piles of rubble. One reason: Not a cent of the $1.15 billion the US pledged in March for rebuilding has arrived. The US has already spent more than $1.1 billion on... More »

Gentlemen Senators, Please Give Women Their Due

Gail Collins: Stop the hold on the national museum

(Newser) - The idea is a great one, writes Gail Collins, and it's also uncontroversial and long overdue: Put up a national museum in DC dedicated to women's history. In fact, a private group is seeking permission to buy federal land at market price and build it at no cost to taxpayers.... More »

Congress Cuts Racist Crack Sentencing Disparity

Felony amount now only 18 times higher for powder cocaine

(Newser) - Congress quietly eased up the federal sentencing guideline on crack cocaine yesterday, addressing one of the more glaring disparities of the drug war. In what critics have called a racist double-standard, possessing a mere 5 grams of crack is considered a felony, compared to 500 grams for powdered cocaine. The... More »

Senate Breaks GOP's Unemployment Filibuster

Moderate Republicans break ranks to move bill past key hurdle

(Newser) - A GOP attempt to filibuster another extension of unemployment benefits failed last night after four moderate Republicans voted with the Democrats. The bill—a package of measures that includes extending benefits for another month for around 200,000 long-term unemployed—is expected to pass a final vote later this week,... More »

Conservative Tom Coburn: Pelosi Is 'Nice,' Fox 'Biased'

Oklahoma senator tells town hall to not be fooled by TV

(Newser) - Staunchly conservative Republican Senator Tom Coburn displayed a surprising bipartisan spirit at a recent town hall in his home state of Oklahoma, praising Democratic House speaker Nancy Pelosi and putting down Fox News. He may be “180 degrees in opposition” to Pelosi, Coburn told the crowd, but “she... More »

Senate Faces Another Fight on Extending Benefits

Starring Tom Coburn as Jim Bunning

(Newser) - With the Senate scheduled for a two-week recess after tomorrow, there’s another showdown brewing over unemployment benefits—and this time, the Republicans have introduced a bill of their own in an apparent effort to avoid the negative publicity that came with Sen. Jim Bunning’s one-man filibuster earlier this... More »

GOP Demands 'No Viagra for Sex Offenders'

Tom Coburn drops slew of amendments to derail health care bill

(Newser) - Suddenly, Republican Tom Coburn has a lot of ideas about health care, and he’s demanding Congress vote on all of them, in a last-ditch attempt to derail the reconciliation bill. Coburn has proposed a slate of hard-to-vote-against amendments; if any of them pass, the bill will have to go... More »

Winners and Losers of the Health Care Summit

Obama, Coburn looked good, Reid and McCain looked bad

(Newser) - Neither side came away with what it wanted after yesterday’s bipartisan health care summit, but there were plenty of winners and losers. Chris Cillizza of the Washington Post breaks it down: More »

Senate's Reading Marathon Ends Early

Sanders pulls amendment after GOP delaying tactic

(Newser) - Pity the poor Senate clerk's office, which finds itself at the center of parliamentary games. Staffers spent nearly three hours today reading aloud an amendment—a move forced by Republican Tom Coburn to gum up the works—before independent Bernie Sanders angrily yanked it back. They had gotten only to... More »

Coburn Forces Hours-Long Reading to Stall Debate

Parliamentary maneuver could take 8 hours or more

(Newser) - The Senate GOP has stalled floor debate on the health care reform bill with a demand that the entirety of a 767-page amendment be read aloud, a process that could take between 8 and 12 hours. The amendment’s sponsor, Independent Bernie Sanders, called the move by Tom Coburn a... More »

GOP: Congress, Prez Must Go On Public Option

If there is one, which we hope there isn't. Good idea, say Dems.

(Newser) - In the circus that is the Senate these days, a couple of anti-public-option Republicans—Tom Coburn and David Vitter—rolled out an amendment to the health care bill Friday requiring members of Congress to enroll in any such plan that might come to pass. When Dems didn’t object—Sherrod... More »

Gun Nuts Firing Blanks in Power Play

Depleted GOP no "paper tiger — it’s a paper muskrat"

(Newser) - Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn has some gall. The fact that he can defend gun nuts calling for blood to "water the tree of liberty" after terrorist Timothy McVeigh wore the same Thomas Jefferson quote on his shirt in the Oklahoma City bombing infuriates New York Times columnist Frank Rich.... More »

Power Meets Prayer at DC 'Family' House

C Street House members believe they 'transcend morality'

(Newser) - The C Street House, the Capitol Hill religious enclave that Mark Sanford, John Ensign, and Chip Pickering have in common, is more than a residence that happened to shelter three lawmakers involved in recent sex scandals, writes Jeff Sharlet in Salon. "If sexual license was all the Family offered... More »

Firefighters Drop In on Sotomayor

(Newser) - The New Haven Fire Department arrived in uniform on Capitol Hill today to watch the third day of Sonia Sotomayor’s confirmation hearings, the New York Times reports. So far talk has swirled around abortion, with Sotomayor refuting reports that the Obama administration had given her a “litmus test”... More »

Husband Outed Ensign Affair to Fox News

Hampton's lawyer made 'exorbitant demands': senator

(Newser) - The husband of John Ensign’s mistress sent a letter detailing the affair to Fox News just days before the senator’s public admission, the Las Vegas Sun reports. A spokesman said Ensign acknowledged the affair because Doug Hampton had approached “a major television news channel.” The senator's... More »

Obama's Pet Power Plant Gets Stimulus Cash

(Newser) - When the stimulus was in the works, President Obama went to great lengths to show he was sacrificing his top pet project—a clean-coal power plant to be built in Illinois—on the altar of fiscal responsibilities. “It shows that we’re serious,” a rep for Nancy Pelosi... More »

Questionable Projects Gobble Stimulus Funds

Report skeptical of $2M dance center, $1M Okla. guardrail

(Newser) - The economic stimulus is funding a variety of projects, but some possibilities—like a $1.1 million move to fix a guardrail no one uses—don’t seem to fit President Obama’s vision for the money, the Los Angeles Times reports. Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn will question such projects... More »

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