Coburn is on the warpath!

[OklahomaTuba]

This is greatness.

From clubforgrowth:

Living up to his pledge to challenge every earmark this year, Senator Tom Coburn is going to be offering all kinds of amendments today by using a "clay pigeon" strategy. The idea is that Coburn will offer a BIG "holding" amendment with 19 smaller amendments tucked into it. Below is a memo from his office that explains it well.

Dr. Coburn exercised a rarely-used floor procedure this afternoon called the "clay pigeon" strategy. This strategy has been used only once before in Senate history. In short, a Senator tosses out one amendment that gets broken down or divided into many pieces.

Dr. Coburn used this strategy to help ensure that the American people could hear a full and open debate about a few of the items in the bill that may not be true emergencies related to either the War on Terror or hurricane recovery effort. Among the 100 plus questionable items in the bill, Dr. Coburn's clay pigeon amendment only targeted 19 items, which should allow the Senate to complete consideration of these items within a few days.

The total savings from the "clay pigeon" amendment will be $2,680,850,000.

Railroad relocation in Mississippi (LOST 48-49)
Seafood promotion strategies
Driver's license facility in Macon, GA
Business disruption expenses for private shipbuilders (Northrop Grumman)
FHA emergency relief backlog table
Three-year study of shrimp and reef fishery profitability
AmeriCorps/National Civilian Community Corps
Procurement of V-22 Osprey
American River (Common Features) project in CA
Electronic logbooks for fishing vessels
Armed Forces Retirement Home
Vessel monitoring systems
New England toxic red tide
South Sacramento Streams project in CA
Temporary marine services centers
Replacement of private fisheries infrastructure
Employ fishers and vessel owners
Replace damaged fishing gear
Sacramento Riverbank Protection project in CA

http://www.clubforgrowth.org/blog/archives/038405.php

[NormanPride]

I saw an "Armed Forces Retirement Home" in there. He hates the troops and wants them to die. Alone. What a terrorist bastard.

Seriously, though... without context, all this is is a list of local projects... The assumption is that the government should not be involved in local projects like this?

[slickdawg]

Railroad relocation in Mississippi (LOST 48-49)
Seafood promotion strategies
Driver's license facility in Macon, GA
Business disruption expenses for private shipbuilders (Northrop Grumman)
FHA emergency relief backlog table
Three-year study of shrimp and reef fishery profitability
AmeriCorps/National Civilian Community Corps
Procurement of V-22 Osprey
American River (Common Features) project in CA
Electronic logbooks for fishing vessels
Armed Forces Retirement Home
Vessel monitoring systems
New England toxic red tide
South Sacramento Streams project in CA
Temporary marine services centers
Replacement of private fisheries infrastructure
Employ fishers and vessel owners
Replace damaged fishing gear
Sacramento Riverbank Protection project in CA


These reek of Trent Lott (R) Mississippi, one of the pork kings of the senate.

[Harry Beanbag]

Like him or not, we need about 534 more Tom Coburns in Congress.

[slickdawg]

Like him or not, we need about 534 more Tom Coburns in Congress.

It sounds like it!


Is he republican or democrat?

[RUSH LIMBAUGH is my clone!]

Seriously, though... without context, all this is is a list of local projects... The assumption is that the government should not BE INVOLVED in local projects like this?

Yes, BE INVOLVED means spending your federal tax dollars.

[Scott D]

You know, half that bill would be gone if we'd just detonate those charges on the Utah border and let California slide under the ocean.

[soonerscuba]

Uh, there is a lot of stuff that is on there that I'm pretty sure he doesn't have a damn clue as to what he is talking about. Anything to do with the Sacramento water system needs attention like yesterday, that city is another New Orleans waiting to happen. I will admit, Coburn has been far less of an asshat than I thought he would be, except for the crying and siding with those who torture.

[SCOUT]

Uh, there is a lot of stuff that is on there that I'm pretty sure he doesn't have a damn clue as to what he is talking about. Anything to do with the Sacramento water system needs attention like yesterday, that city is another New Orleans waiting to happen. I will admit, Coburn has been far less of an asshat than I thought he would be, except for the crying and siding with those who torture.

Shouldn't the people of Sacramento fix their own water system?

[RUSH LIMBAUGH is my clone!]

Shouldn't the people of Sacramento fix their own water system?

HA HA...Well YEAH!

[OklahomaTuba]

Sorry, but Sacramento's water system doesn't have a damn thing to do with the GWOT or Katrina reconstruction as far as I can tell.

Let these asshats get up and defend this stuff. That's the point of what Coburn is trying to do.

[soonerscuba]

Why in God's name would the people of Sacramento want the same federal protections that poorer states receive to protect their homes and businesses? Gee, what a mystery.

I see it as an ounce of prevention deal. I am for cutting spending and raising taxes, to me it doesn't have to be an either/or situation. In this particular case, the levees in Sacramento will probably save the government money in the long term to fix them now.

[soonerscuba]

Oh, what if terrorists attack the levees, there, happy? Both sides will eventually use the never ending war on a state of emotion to justify whatever they spend money on. I for one, have a sneaking feeling the the GWOT will come to a screeching halt at the election of a Democrat.

[Hamhock]

I see it as an ounce of prevention deal. I am for cutting spending and raising taxes, .

I agree. The government has proven over and over that it is does a better job of spending my money than I do.

[SCOUT]

Why in God's name would the people of Sacramento want the same federal protections that poorer states receive to protect their homes and businesses? Gee, what a mystery.

I see it as an ounce of prevention deal. I am for cutting spending and raising taxes, to me it doesn't have to be an either/or situation. In this particular case, the levees in Sacramento will probably save the government money in the long term to fix them now.

Why in God's name would the people Boise Idaho want their tax money spent on the city of Sacramento instead of the city of Boise? The argument that they got money so we should too doesn't hold water to me.

The notion of the federal government as the solution to all problems is the biggest problem with spending IMO.

[soonerscuba]

Why in God's name would the people Boise Idaho want their tax money spent on the city of Sacramento instead of the city of Boise? The argument that they got money so we should too doesn't hold water to me.

The notion of the federal government as the solution to all problems is the biggest problem with spending IMO.

We ain't gonna finish the federal power debate that has been raging since about 1776 anytime soon. But, I do think there are instances when state governments can't foot the bill, namely in the poorer states that rail against federal power yet devour most of the federal resources, talk about irony.

And, the people of Sacramento have been working on this for years, out of the bill it seems completely reasonable for them to ask for some federal help in addition to on going state funding, IMO. I think that sometimes the people of Oklahoma and other poor states lose sight of exactly how much money we ask the feds for. I don't see it as unreasonable for them to ask for help with failing levees.

[NormanPride]

Frankly, I just don't like Sacramento. **** them and their levees.

[crawfish]

Frankly, I just don't like Sacramento. **** them and their levees.

Hear, hear!

Screw San Francisco, too.

[slickdawg]

More on this Mississippi Railroad boondoggle.

http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pb...ON01/604280309

Mississippi Republicans are fighting the good fight for beleaguered Gulf Coast residents seeking to recover from Hurricane Katrina while at the same time fearful of the next killer storm to come.

President Bush, congressional Republicans and media pundits sympathetic to providing them cover for runaway spending on the war in Iraq are lambasting Mississippi's Republican U.S. Sens. Thad Cochran and Trent Lott and Gov. Haley Barbour for fighting for federal funds to move the CSX rail line on the Gulf Coast.

President Bush has vowed to veto a $106.5 billion emergency spending measure for Iraq and further hurricane relief for the Gulf Coast if it's not scaled back. But Cochran has flexed his considerable muscles as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee to thwart an attempt to scuttle a $700 million project to move the CSX rail line to make way for a new east-west highway on the Gulf Coast.

Lott has been working behind the scenes to keep key Senate votes on the bill in line and Barbour has been on Capitol Hill lobbying hard for the project.

Conservatives have called the CSX project a "boondoggle" and "pork-barrel politics at its worst." Sorry, but the facts don't support those contentions.

A new inland east-west highway would take pressure off U.S. 90 and provide an area for development of small businesses off the dangerous waterfront.

The new highway would make for a safer, more efficient evacuation route while allowing a safer, more sustainable redevelopment of the Gulf Coast's business community.

After Hurricane Camille, Mississippi rebuilt the Coast much as it was prior to that terrible 1969 storm. Katrina should have taught us the folly of that kind of cookie-cutter redevelopment planning.

Cochran, Lott and Barbour are right. The CSX project is in the long term clearly the most conservative approach to investing federal dollars for hurricane relief.

President Bush and his cronies are wrong about the CSX project. Period.

[OklahomaTuba]

This reminds me about one of Reagan's best quotes evar:

"The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and i'm here to help."