Coburn Hugs Obama
Fellow freshman senators in 2005, Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Muskogee, and President Barack Obama still look like they have a close relationship here:
OU President Boren on Bipartisanship
University of Oklahoma President David Boren, a former U.S. senator and governor, penned a column on bipartisanship that ran in the Washington Post today.
It’s a big topic in Washington, particularly after the stimulus package was opposed by all but three Republicans in Congress.
American-Made Flags
To Rep. Dan Boren, D-Muskogee, there’s something downright un-American about American flags made in other countries.
And if he has his way, there won’t be any.
Boren and a Republican congressman from South Carolina have introduced a bill that would prohibit the import of foreign-made American flags — perhaps the ultimate buy-American bill.
“The most important symbol of the United States should be made by U.S. companies that employ hard-working U.S. citizens,” said Boren. “It is imperative that we pass this legislation before foreign companies continue to gain a foothold in the manufacture of U.S. flags.”
Chimp Attack: The Coburn Connection?
Wayne Pacelle, the head of the Humane Society of the United States, says several factors contributed to the chimpanzee attack of a woman in Connecticut on Monday, including Sen. Tom Coburn’s blocking of a bill last year to ban the interstate transport of monkeys and chimpanzees for the pet trade. The bill passed the House overwhelmingly, but it was among the dozens of bills that Coburn placed a “hold” on.
“Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (R-Ga.) and a few other anti-animal lawmakers made fun of this attempt to stop the abuse of primates in the pet trade and to protect people and communities, but fortunately, their efforts fell short in the House. But in the Senate, despite repeated efforts by bill co-authors Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and David Vitter (R-La.) to get the legislation over the finish line and sent to President Bush for his signature, Sen.Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) blocked consideration of the bill,” Pacelle wrote today.
“But for Coburn, a medical doctor, we’d now have a federal law banning the interstate transport of dangerous primates as pets.”
John Hart, a spokesman for Coburn, R-Muskogee, said, “People who keep 200-pound chimpanzees as pets have issues that cannot be resolved by any act of Congress. That said, it is false to allege that Dr. Coburn “blocked consideration” of this bill. Dr. Coburn wanted the bill to be paid for and debated on the floor. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), who sets the Senate schedule, did not believe this bill was important enough to be debated on the floor.
“The Humane Society should direct its concerns at the human victim of this horrific attack and spend less time trying to score cheap political points. Also, as terrible as the tragedy is, it’s important to keep it in perspective. Chimpanzee attacks against humans are extremely rare. Dog bites, for instance, send 386,000 Americans to the emergency room every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control. If the Humane Society wants to grandstand about animal bites they might want to broaden their scope.”
Cole Headed to Lone Grove
Rep. Tom Cole, R-Moore, headed from the House vote on the $800 billion stimulus plan today back to his district, which includes Lone Grove, the Carter County town devastated by a tornado this week.
On Wednesday, the House held a moment of silence at Cole’s request to honor the victims of the tragedy.
Cole is scheduled to tour Lone Grove at 11 a.m. on Saturday.
Boren Goes to White House
Rep. Dan Boren, D-Muskogee, and about 50 other conservative House Democrats known as “Blue Dogs” met with President Barack Obama on Tuesday night at the White House.
The president talked about the economy and his trips to Indiana and Florida to highlight rising unemployment and foreclosures.
Boren said the Blue Dogs said they wanted to work with him on entitlements (Social Security and Medicare) and so-called PAYGO legislation, which requires new spending to be offset with tax hikes or cuts elsewhere in the budget.
After about an hour, Boren said, the meeting ended when the president said he had to say goodnight to his daughters.
Coburn on His Taxes
Politico.com surveyed U.S. senators about whether they had had tax problems in the past. Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Muskogee, had an interesting and humorous response (note: Coburn left the House in Jan. 2001).
SEN. TOM COBURN (R-Okla.)
- Do you prepare your own taxes? No.
- If not, who does? He has an accountant.
- Have you or the IRS ever discovered an error on a tax return you’ve filed? See below.
- Have you ever paid back taxes? No.
- If the answer to either 3 or 4 is yes, please explain.
After Dr. Coburn left the House, the House continued to pay him for three months. Apparently, they were very pleased with his service. However, because the payments were made in error Dr. Coburn returned all of the checks to Treasury. Yet, the House sent a W-2 to the IRS, but not to Coburn, reporting income that had been returned. After a long fight, the House and the IRS admitted their error and the IRS sent Coburn a corrected W-2. This is the government in charge of “stimulating” our economy.
TARP Funds in OK
According to the latest U.S. Treasury Department information, only one Oklahoma bank has taken money from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (otherwise known as TARP, or the financial industry bail-out plan passed by Congress last fall).
Southwest Bancorp, Inc., the publicly-traded parent of Stillwater National Bank, took $70 million in December, according to Treasury.
The company reported last month that its fourth-quarter earnings fell to $3 million, compared to $4.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2007.
The company’s CEO blamed the performance on the current economic conditions.
Coburn Criticized
Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Muskogee, hasn’t officially announced that he will run for a second term next year, but the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is already gearing up to fight him.
After the vote on the stimulus package yesterday, the committee released a statement saying:
“President Obama and the American people asked Congress to work together to pass an economic stimulus, many in the Congress headed their call unfortunately Senator Coburn was not one of them.”
Coburn opposed the stimulus package from the get-go, and in the strongest possible terms. He backed an alternative offered by Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, that would drastically cut the size of the package and made it more weighted to tax cuts.
Inhofe Finds Silver Lining in Stimulus
Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Tulsa, gave a speech on the Senate floor today criticizing the $800 billion stimulus bill — which is expected to come up for a critical procedural vote later today — but said it could “wind up being a positive thing for Republicans.”
Noting that no Republicans in the House voted for the bill and that only two or three Republicans in the Senate are expected to vote for it, Inhofe said voters would hold Democrats responsible for the bill.
He predicted that the political climate next year would be similar to that in 1994 when, two years into former President Bill Clinton’s first term, Republicans took over the House and Senate. That was the year Inhofe was first elected to the Senate.
