Senatorial Split
Oklahoma’s senators split Wendesday on a couple of big votes. The votes were in character, showing both senators holding fast to principles they’ve articulated many times in the past.
Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Muskogee, who has spent more than 10 years (counting his time in the House) in Washington railing about misplaced priorities and excessive spending voted against a huge water projects bill. Coburn complained that the bill violated rules on “earmarks” approved earlier this year by the Senate and authorized …
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Hollywood and Toilet Paper
Had to do a Yahoo search to figure out what Sen. Jim Inhofe may have been talking about when he uttered these words on the Senate floor Tuesday night.
Speaking about former Vice President Al Gore’s movie about climate change, “An Inconvenient Truth,” Inhofe said, “If you look at the movie _ I confess, I have not seen it _ the last frame of the movie says … ‘Are you ready to change the way you live?’
“The whole idea …
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New Poll: McCain and Clinton Leading
The early frontrunners in the presidential race in Oklahoma are Sen. Hillary Clinton on the Democratic side and Sen. John McCain for Republicans, but nearly 30 percent of the voters in both parites are undecided, according to a poll released today.
The Sooner Survey, conducted by the Oklahoma City firm of Cole Hargrave Snodgrass and Associates, shows McCain, of Arizona, had the support of 27 percent of the 300 registered Republicans polled in late April.
Former New York City Mayor …
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A Lawyer-Free Zone
When Mary Fallin replaced Ernest Istook in the U.S. House in January, it was an historic moment for the Oklahoma congressional delegation. Any guesses why?
Fallin, R-Oklahoma City, wasn’t the first woman; she’s the second. So that’s not it.
Ok, maybe there’s more than one right answer, but here’s one: It marked the first time in state history that there wasn’t a lawyer in the delegation, now made up of five House members and two senators.
I realized it had …
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Water Projects
The Senate has a lot on its plate next week, including immigration and, possibly, emergency war funding.
It may also have some pork, at least in some conservatives’ view. And that includes Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Muskogee.
He is upset about some projects in the Water Resources Development Act, being pushed hard by his Oklahoma colleauge, Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Tulsa.
And, if Coburn gets a chance, he may try to strip some of them.
Coburn hasn’t specifically targeted any of the …
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Votes on War Funding/Farm Aid
After splitting along party lines on emergency spending for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan on Thursday night, all five of Oklahoma’s members in the U.S. House voted for a separate emergency bill providing $3.5 billion in agricultural disaster relief.
Both bills were approved late Thursday and now go to the Senate. President Bush has vowed to veto the war spending bill.
On the ag relief bill, Rep. Tom Cole, R-Moore, said, “Oklahomans have experienced numerous losses due to the …
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Fallin Gets New Committee
Rep. Mary Fallin, the freshman Republican from Oklahoma City, was named to the House Committee on Natural Resources on Thursday, and she’ll join two other Oklahomans on that panel.
The committee has jurisdiction over Native American issues, public parks and trails and a range of environmental matters.
It might not have the cache — or the stroke — of such committees as Appropriations, which doles out the money, or Ways and Means, which sets tax policy and oversees entitlement programs.…
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Inhofe: Back to Iraq
Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Tulsa, is heading back to Iraq this weekend, according to a spokesman who said the senator wants to gauge the success of the surge and talk to Gen. David Petraeus, the commander of U.S. troops in Iraq.
Inhofe has been an unwavering booster of the war in Iraq, and he has traveled to Baghdad and the Sunni Triangle several times, each time returning with an upbeat assessment of the situation there.
I’ve included these past comments by …
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Iraq Spending Bill: The Details
It’s likely to be a long night on the House floor as lawmakers once again take up legislation to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan through the next few months.
President Bush vetoed the funding bill sent to him last week because it included timelines for withdrawing troops. He has already vowed to veto this bill as well because it would divide the money up in two parts _ one allotment would be made once the bill is …
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Oklahoma receives nationwide attention
http://newsok.com/video/149140
Today The Oklahoman was featured on MSNBC for a story that ran in the newspaper this week on a comprehensive immigration reform bill the Legislature sent to the governor.
As far as convergence goes, national television is the big kahuna. Though I only got our Web address in on one of the three segments I did live Friday (man TV interviews go by fast!), having The Oklahoman out front of a story people across the country care about is …
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