Coburn: Defunding Opponents ‘Misdirected’

coburn5Tulsa World

Speaking on the Senate floor Wednesday, U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla.,  vented some frustration over the almost-certain-to-fail effort to defund the Affordable Care Act and what he said is a failure to identify more important issues.

“There’s a big story that hasn’t been told to the thousands and thousands of people from Oklahoma that have called my office,” Coburn said. “They’ve been sold a bill of goods. And when I have young interns and young staff in my office taking significant calls from people who’ve been misled, there’s no way you’re going to talk them out of a position that outside interest groups and a very few small number of people inside the Senate have planted.

“They’ve been misdirected in terms of what the real problems are,” Coburn said. “The real problem in our country right now is that we’re bankrupt.”

Coburn has been under fire from the Heritage Foundation and other organizations for not backing their effort to force a showdown over a budget extension, known as a continuing resolution, and implementation of the Affordable Care Act.

Through the summer, Coburn has said the showdown is doomed to failure and is being used merely to promote political careers and raise money for special interest groups.

“We’ve had this big debate, but nobody is focused on the fact that Washington is still lying about the numbers up here,” Coburn said.


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  1. dick grace, 27 September, 2013

    Tom get a grip. No war is every won unless we fight. You and your other com padres in Washington are always for changing things but when and where do you start? Give us some leadership. Your answer to any call for action is “this is not the time or place for this battle”. When is the time and when is the place to fight? We are bankrupt, we all know it and none of you folks has a plan to even try to buck the trend and call for a showdown.

  2. Steve Dickson, 27 September, 2013

    The Senator appears to want efficient, well run government. He has spent a considerable amount of time and effort to streamline things, find waste and abuse, and reduce duplication.

    He has missed something: many of us don’t want efficient government. We want LESS government.

    We don’t want a well run EPA – we don’t want an EPA.
    We don’t want a well run Department of Education – we don’t want a Department of Education.
    Insert other federal department that should be handled at the state level HERE.
    Insert other federal department that should be handled by the private sector HERE.

    It is insulting to the public to insinuate that we are not aware of the bankruptcy of our government. Quit trying to treat the disease and cure it instead.

    Senator Coburn has stood strong on a number of issues over the years, earning himself the label of “conservative” from a number of different groups. Some of those groups are conservative and some are liberal. Perhaps his best nickname is “Dr. No” and that appeals to most people who tire of federal over-reach. Many of us are very angry at the rapid and continued encroachment of government, and have changed our perspective.

    We would like to see the wholesale REDUCTION of government instead of REFORM of it.

    I look forward to watching both of our Senators vote today, and hope that they will stand with Senators Cruz, Lee, Paul, and others in opposing cloture.

  3. sky man, 27 September, 2013

    Coburn is spot on. The Republican party is going to resemble Lemmings going over the cliff if we don’t stop this nonsense!

  4. Steven Ferguson, 27 September, 2013

    Coburn is still stuck on that old argument that the Republicans lost in the 90’s because they forced Bill Clinton’s hand. THEY DID NOT! Here’s an excerpt from a paper I wrote a few month’s ago.

    “I wish Republicans would stop peddling the worn out argument of “the government shut down in 95′ cost the republicans the election and congressional seats.” IT DID NOT! Republicans lost the Presidential election because they did what they have done virtually every election since Reagan; they ran a crap candidate that didn’t stand a chance against a very popular President. No other argument needs to be made. For running on the Republican ticket in the middle of the Republican Revolution, Bob Dole was as progressive as they come for so called Republicans and remains so today. As far as congressional seats, Republicans only had a net loss of 5 seats (which some of them were probably going to lose anyway). They also had quite a few non-Republican House seats picked up, including TWO IN CALIFORNIA and one in Pennsylvania (wouldn’t that be great today) Oh, and in the 1996 Senate Election, (After the government shutdown) Republicans had a NET GAIN of 2 seats. So let’s do the math. Republicans actually showed the American people they had courage and were willing to fight for what they believed in. They stood strong and made President Clinton shut the government down (see what I did there). For their courage, the American people rewarded them. They kept a strong majority in the House, and gained seats in the Senate. And let’s be honest, John McCain (I mean Bob Dole) would have made a crappy President anyway.”

    And let’s not forget out of all that, Welfare reform was birthed in the deal…

    It’s very simple. Stick to principle and the American people will reward you. Keep giving in to progressive arguments and demands, you’ll lose your job. (Thank God Coburn isn’t running again)

  5. Duane Crumbacher, 27 September, 2013

    Tom Coburn DOES NOT represent Oklahoma Values!!

    Senate Republicans (including Tom Coburn) knew before they voted to cut off debate (cloture) that they would lose any vote regarding the removal of provisions that defunded Obamacare from the Continuing Resolution. That knowledge alone makes ANY REPUBLICAN SENATOR THAT VOTED TO CUT OFF DEBATE COMPLICIT (this means you Tom Coburn) even if they voted against removing the provisions that defunded Obamacare from the Continuing Resolution. Don’t buy into any excuse that he gives for his vote to cut off debate.
    TOM COBURN SHOULD BE PUBLICLY SHAMED!!

    Oh and for the record!! Voting to spend more money by removing the defunding provisions of Obamacare from the Continuing Resolution by means of YOUR COMPLICIT vote on CLOTURE tells me that you have no business complaining about the spending of money since you voted in favor ot it.

  6. John Goodwin, 27 September, 2013

    If Sen. Coburn were the coach at West Virginia they would not come to Stillwater and play OSU because the experts say they will lose.In other words forfeit don’t try and fight. What a weak link.

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