Sanity in the Senate
By Jan Larson (10/31/05)
Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) attempted to bring some sanity to the United States Senate. Unfortunately all that happened was that the insanity that runs rampant in Washington was once again revealed.
One of the amendments that Senator Coburn introduced to H.R. 3058, the Transportation, Treasury, HUD, Judiciary and District of Columbia Appropriations Act, was designed to divert $125 million from two Alaskan bridge boondoggles to repair the hurricane-damaged Twin Spans Bridge over Lake Pontchartrain in Louisiana. This amendment was defeated by a vote of 82-15.
A second amendment would have blocked $1.65 million in funding for a sculpture park in Seattle, an animal facility in Rhode Island and a parking garage in Nebraska. In Washington terms, $1.65 million is chump change, but nevertheless the Senate tabled (killed) the amendment by a vote of 86-13.
Alaska Senator Ted Stevens, one of the Senate’s “kings of pork,” gave an impassioned speech opposing Sen. Coburn’s amendment, “I will put the Senate on notice -- and I don't kid people -- if the Senate decides to discriminate against our state and take money only from our state, I will resign from this body.”
The Senate missed a golden opportunity to send the pork-packing Stevens back to the frozen tundra.
These amendments were about more than simply diverting funds from unneeded pork projects to projects that have obvious merit. Senator Coburn’s amendments served to expose the true nature of the Senate, that is, “you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours.” Sure, we’ve always known that this is the way politicians operate, but now it is in the Congressional Record.
Just six Senators, in addition to Coburn, voted for the two amendments, Allen (R-VA), Burr (R-NC), DeMint (R-SC), Graham (R-SC), Kyl (R-AZ), Sessions (R-AL) and Sununu (R-NH). All of the others apparently thought that the “bridges to nowhere” and statues were more important than hurricane reconstruction in Louisiana.
Senator Coburn is a breath of fresh air in Washington. He is in his first term in the Senate having previously served a self-imposed limit of three terms in the House. After leaving the House in 2001, he authored the book, Breach of Trust, documenting his experiences in the corrupt world of Washington politics. The Senator has pledged to serve no more than two terms in the Senate and continues as a practicing physician in Muskogee, Oklahoma.
In contrast to the vast majority of Senators that will fight tooth-and-nail for their favorite pet projects from bike trails to indoor rain forests for the sole objective of going back to their home state and running for reelection, Coburn is fighting for fiscal responsibility for the benefit of all Americans.
Senator Coburn’s efforts have gotten some press and with many Americans getting sick and tired of Washington “business as usual,” there are others that are starting to pay attention. A group of seven Senators, Coburn, DeMint, Graham, Sununu along with Ensign (R-NV), Brownback (R-KS) and McCain (R-AZ) have formed a group known as the “Fiscal Watch Team.” This group of senators has called upon Congress to offset hurricane relief with spending cuts and to bring some fiscal sanity to Washington.
The group presented an agenda that would save $115 billion over the next two years. Included among the items targeted for cuts are a five percent reduction in non-defense/homeland security discretionary spending, delay the Medicare drug benefit for two years, freeze salaries for members of Congress for one year and rescind all highway bill pork projects. Too bad for Senator Stevens.
The most important item of the group’s agenda is the proposal to appoint a commission, similar to the commission that recommends the closing of military bases, to identify unnecessary, wasteful or duplicate discretionary spending programs. Congress would then vote up or down on the entire list of programs. This is politically feasible because it allows individual members to hide behind the cloak of, “Gee, I tried to keep our bike trail, but the commission targeted it, so what could I do?”
The members of Congress and the Senate of the United States are driving this country into financial ruin because of their never-ending drive to remain in Washington. Short of Congressional term limits (which would require a Constitutional amendment), it is only through the actions of individual members such as Senator Coburn that fiscal sanity has any real hope of being realized.
If your Senators are not among those that voted for the Coburn amendments, please use this as an opportunity to bring to their attention the fact that while they fiddle, America is burning and the voters are paying attention. We need more people like Senator Coburn in Washington. We need representatives that will look past the next election and put a stop to the insanity. If the group that is there now doesn’t measure up, it is time to send each of them into retirement.
Copyright ©2005 Jan A. Larson All rights reserved.
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