On Tuesday morning, former Vice President Dan Quayle endorsed Mitt Romney, as did California Congressmen Jerry Lewis, Ken Calvert and Brian Bilbray. On Monday morning, Tennessee Congressmen Jimmy Duncan, Diane Black and Phil Roe announced their support. In the past month Senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, New Hampshire’s Kelly Ayotte …
tom coburn
As Prospects for a Grand Debt Deal Fade, Gang of Six Shapes Plan B
At a White House meeting on July 7 when President Obama told congressional leaders he wanted a grand bargain on deficit reduction, Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Senate Democrat and a member of the bipartisan so-called Gang of Six, began …
With Deficit Plan Revived, Senate Gang of Six Gains Traction — and a Nod from Obama
Updated, 2:18 p.m.
An ambitious deficit reduction framework crafted by the Senate’s bipartisan Gang of Six earned two key endorsements on Tuesday as President Obama called it “broadly consistent” with what he wants from …
What if There Was a Reasonable Compromise on Medicare?
Sen. Joe Lieberman has found an ally for the middle-of-the-road Medicare reform proposal he laid out a few weeks ago. On Tuesday, the independent Senator from Connecticut and conservative Republican Tom Coburn unveiled a tweaked version of Lieberman’s plan. They hope to build a coalition of support for the proposal, which they say …
Grover Norquist, Tom Coburn, AARP and the Looming Deficit Showdown
As I type this, Vice President Joe Biden is one floor below me, cloistered in a room with congressional negotiators trying to work out a deal to slash deficits and raise the debt ceiling before the Aug. 2 deadline, when the …
Coburn Takes On Ethanol Hypocrisy
The Senate voted down a bill Monday afternoon that would’ve strip $6 billion in annual ethanol subsidies and get rid of an import tariff on ethanol, particularly from Brazil, coming into the United States. The measure, co-sponsored by Oklahoma Republican Tom Coburn and California Democrat Dianne Feinstein, garnered a surprising amount of …
The Gang Falters: Coburn Breaks from Deficit Negotiations
Senator Tom Coburn on Tuesday said that he’s “taking a break” from the Gang of Six, the Senate group that has been trying for months to reach a bipartisan deal on deficit reduction. The Oklahoma Republican’s withdrawal …
Lingering Questions from the John Ensign Files
The lurid revelations from the Senate Ethics Committee’s report on John Ensign’s alleged cover-up of an extramarital affair have raised a battery of questions, including why the Department of Justice and Federal Election …
Thank Tom Coburn for This Beauty
Per Ben Smith, Sharron Angle is now running an ad saying that Harry Reid “actually voted to use taxpayer dollars to pay for Viagra for convicted child molesters and sex offenders. What else could you ever need to know about Harry Reid?”
Presto, another example of members of Congress conducting politics under the guise of legislating. …
Who Knew Andy Griffith Was So Controversial?
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services certainly knows its audience. As Adam noted earlier, the agency signed up Andy Griffith to appear in television ads now airing and touting changes to Medicare brought about by the new health reform law.
This has caused a bit of a stir, with five Republican senators sending a letter …
Is There a Doctor in the House?
Yes, there are 16 actually, according to a fascinating new USA Today article reporting that 47 physicians are running for seats in the House and Senate this fall. All but six are Republicans, which is noteworthy, especially given that nearly all of the doctors currently in Congress are also from the Grand Old Party. Republican doctors in …
Jail Time for Tax Evaders? Yes, Said Fox News – Part Two
I wasn’t planning to write any more about Bill O’Reilly, but it seems I have to do one more round of fact checking about The Factor.
After I pointed out that O’Reilly had erroneously said Fox News never told viewers they could be jailed for failure to obtain health insurance or pay a penalty, O’Reilly attempted to defend …
Jail Time for Insurance Evaders? Yes, Said Fox News
A little more than a week ago, Tom Coburn did something fairly courageous by political standards. At a town hall meeting in Oklahoma, the conservative Republican senator referred to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as a “nice lady” and criticized Fox News. (He was briefly booed for the Pelosi comment.) After an audience member mentioned …
