Tom Coburn: A politician I can really respect
February 10th 2007 06:48
Tom Coburn (R - OK) is a politician who really seems to get it. He recently sent out a letter to his fellow senators to put them on notice. In the letter, he vowed to stop proposals full of wasteful spending.
Parts of his letter:
And his common sense principles on spending:
Sen. Coburn said that he would object to and block legislation that violated those principles. I, for one, hope that he can stick to his guns. He will be under tremendous pressure from members of both parties and from his campaign contributors to pass bills that will fly in the face of these stated principles. He seems to be serious about cutting out the wasteful spending, though. He was also a driving force behind the creation of a publicly accessible database that would show the recipients of all federal grants and contracts.
Folks like Tom Coburn are true citizen politicians. He seems to understand why people are so cynically jaded about our elected representatives. He really is a beacon of hope and I wish him well as he takes what is (unfortunately) the road less traveled in Washington.
Parts of his letter:
Perhaps the greatest threat to our nation is our nearly insurmountable national debt which now exceeds $8.6 trillion.
Over the past two years, I have heard members on both sides of the aisle call for fiscal responsibility. While we may have different concepts of how to obtain this goal, balancing the budget is not a partisan issue.
For too long, Congress has simply borrowed more and more money to pay for new spending. In the real world, families can not follow this example and must make difficult decisions and set priorities on how to spend their limited financial resources.
Americans want Congress to live within its means, using the same set of common sense rules and restraints they face everyday.
And his common sense principles on spending:
1) If a bill creates or authorizes a new federal program or activity, it must not duplicate an existing program or activity without de-authorizing the existing program;
2) If a bill authorizes new spending, it must be offset by reductions in real spending elsewhere;
3) If a program or activity currently receives funding from sources other than the federal government, a bill shall not increase the federal government’s proportion of the costs of the program or activity;
4) If a bill establishes a new foundation, museum, cultural or historical site, or other entity that is not an agency or a department, federal funding should be limited to the initial start-up costs and an endowment shall provide funding thereafter.
2) If a bill authorizes new spending, it must be offset by reductions in real spending elsewhere;
3) If a program or activity currently receives funding from sources other than the federal government, a bill shall not increase the federal government’s proportion of the costs of the program or activity;
4) If a bill establishes a new foundation, museum, cultural or historical site, or other entity that is not an agency or a department, federal funding should be limited to the initial start-up costs and an endowment shall provide funding thereafter.
Sen. Coburn said that he would object to and block legislation that violated those principles. I, for one, hope that he can stick to his guns. He will be under tremendous pressure from members of both parties and from his campaign contributors to pass bills that will fly in the face of these stated principles. He seems to be serious about cutting out the wasteful spending, though. He was also a driving force behind the creation of a publicly accessible database that would show the recipients of all federal grants and contracts.
Folks like Tom Coburn are true citizen politicians. He seems to understand why people are so cynically jaded about our elected representatives. He really is a beacon of hope and I wish him well as he takes what is (unfortunately) the road less traveled in Washington.
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Comment by Ahmed
Video Gamer Kids
Little Green Foosballs
PolyKicks
seriously, the way the bush administration spends money, it's like a low income family buying a HDTV.
Comment by Populist Conservative