The latest email from Senator (Dr) Tom Coburn contained this fact which we think is major and a start:

Committee Passes Coburn Earmark Ban Amendment

In an unprecedented move for the Senate, the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs agreed to an amendment offered by Dr. Coburn banning all earmarks for a key disaster grant program. The Pre-Disaster Mitigation (PDM) merit based grant program is intended to assist with projects that will significantly reduce more costly repairs resulting from future natural disasters. A recent report by the non-partisan Congressional Research Service indicated that a third of all grant funds were being siphoned away by Congressional appropriators for special interest earmarks. The report also revealed that the earmarked recipients would not have met eligibility guidelines under the normal program.

We never could figure out how any Senator had the nerve to put earmarks on Disaster Grant Programs. Every last dollar appropriated needed to go to the Disaster area. We are shocked this passed Committee and hope it will pass on the floor of the Senate.

Dr. Tom is truly a voice of Common Sense in the United States Senate, and he will be returned to the US Senate on November 2nd by the voters of Oklahoma to serve six more years.

Dear Sharon,

Perspective. Of all the important qualities currently missing in our elected leaders today, a lack of real life experience may be in shortest supply. This should come as no surprise since Congress is dominated by men and women who have rarely held a job outside of politics.

Just The Facts

Over the past month, the national debt ($12.9 trillion) grew by an average daily rate nearly equal to the total amount of money the State of Oklahoma will spend in fiscal year 2011.

Grow government or address the real problems?

Faced with a real problem in health care—skyrocketing costs and limited access for some—Congress instead rammed through a bill that will grow federal bureaucracies and put the federal government squarely in the middle of your health care decisions.

Despite growing evidence that climate change hysteria is based more on politics than science, congressional leadership is desperately trying to pass legislation that will transfer trillions of dollars from our economy to grow federal agencies in Washington.

In the midst of an economic crisis, Congress rushed to pass a so-called stimulus bill that has largely stimulated only federal and state agency budgets.

Now, the Senate is debating financial regulatory reform. Undoubtedly, there were real failures on Wall Street and in Washington that led to the meltdown we experienced. Rather than examining these failed policies and making the appropriate changes, many in Congress instinctively believe the solution lies in growing government.

It is clear that Congress is swift to act in ways that grow the federal bureaucracies, increase government authority (through regulations and laws), and even raise our debt limit. Yet, it fails to act with similar haste to address our nearly $13 trillion debt and the legacy that debt will leave our children and grandchildren.

We get the government we deserve.

The next time you wonder why the federal government’s solution to every problem is more government, and why Congress stubbornly refuses to consider its own role in creating these problems, consider the type of people we send to Washington. The Founders’ great desire for a citizen legislature holds as much wisdom today as it did in their time.

In 2010 we can make the difference.

Sincerely,

Dr. Tom