If there is one person I respect in Congress, it is Senator Tom Coburn, R-OK. Yes, he is one of my Senators and I voted for him gladly. That's not saying I haven't disagreed with him on issues before, but most of the time, I find myself in complete agreement. He is now being very vocal in his opposition to the budget deal worked out between Paul Ryan and Patty Murray. And unlike a lot of his colleagues in Washington, Tom Coburn is willing to highlight how government spending really works. He has consistently fought against wasteful government spending and the fraud that is so rampant. His has been a loud voice in a din of voices trying to shout him down.
Newsmax - Coburn said Ryan and Murray "two very well-meaning individuals" who "hammered out an agreement to get past a political event [the 2014 election]. But he said their proposal affirms that the Washington establishment is more interested in keeping the status quo on budget issues."We're going to raise spending back up, because the political powers that be want to spend more money, rather than be responsible with what we know needs to be done up here — which is hard work eliminating all the stupidity, fraud, duplication that's going on," he said.
"I'm sure it's the best Paul (Ryan) could get. But, it's not anything I can support," the senator added.
Wasteful government spending is ignored in the Ryan-Murray measure, Coburn maintained. He said Congress has failed to be "responsible" once again and noted that he plans to release his annual wasteful spending book again soon that contains "$25 billion in stupid spending" in 2013.
"None of that's addressed in this. None of the waste, the duplication, the fraud. None of it," he stressed.
Many of his fellow Republicans are not willing to admit just how close to home Coburn's remarks really are. He pointed out on Morning Joe that this agreement was designed to get the government past the 2014 elections. He also pointed out that he does not care about the elections. Paraphrasing here, he said the Republicans were always rationalizing about how they were going to do things right when they were finally in charge. He said the country was going down the tubes and the budget deal worked out between Paul Ryan and Patty Murray does nothing but add to that.I could not agree more with Tom Coburn's thinking on this. The Republican leadership is trying to sell us a bill of goods to get us past the 2014 elections. I have seen commentary all over the Internet from both sides of this argument. Some are saying we need to look at the long game and how this budget deal will put us into a place where we can make more gains. Once again, when the Republicans are in full control of Congress. If that really happens. I would remind us that there is no guarantee that we will win enough seats in the Senate to wrest control from Harry Reid and his liberal Democrats.
I would contend that we need to do the right thing now. Not wait until we have full control. No compromises for compromise's sake. If we do the right thing now, will that not translate into the right thing, if and when we do gain control of Congress, in 2014, and the White House, in 2016?
The trouble with the Republican leadership is simple. They are not interested in doing the right thing. They are, instead, more worried about retaining their hold on the power they have now. Until that mindset changes, I'm not sure we will see a dime's worth of change happening in the way our government operates.
