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Coburn Dines Alone as the Senate Buffet Piles on the Pork
Next came Coburn's effort to strip hurricane rebuilding money from a Northrop Grumman facility in Mississippi -- home of Lott and Appropriations Committee Chairman Thad Cochran. "We're really reaching forward and stealing an opportunity from our kids," Coburn pleaded.
"I grew up in the shadow of this shipyard, where 13,000 men and women make their livelihood," Lott countered. "My dad was a pipe fitter in that shipyard."
  Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) was a busy man at the Capitol as he attempted, mostly unsuccessfully, to rein in his pork-happy colleagues during votes on a spending bill. (By Melina Mara -- The Washington Post) Washington SketchA national political reporter for the Post, Milbank writes Washington Sketch, an observational column about political theater in the White House, Congress and elsewhere in the capital. He covered the 2000 and 2004 presidential campaigns and President Bush's first term. Before coming to the Post as a Style political writer in 2000, he covered the Clinton White House for the New Republic and Congress for the Wall Street Journal. |
Sign Up for RSS FeedCoburn stood at the clerk's desk for the roll call and watched his amendment fail, 52 to 47. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist consoled him with an arm around the shoulder.
The doctor could see the prognosis was not good. He offered to withdraw three other amendments that would have killed earmarks to study shrimp profitability, to boost AmeriCorps community service, and to award the Pentagon more Osprey aircraft than it wants.
The senator still had a little fight left, though. He tried to strike a $176 million earmark for a retirement facility in Mississippi -- again inviting the wrath of Lott and Cochran.
"My concern is the cost," said Coburn, warning that one estimate puts it at "$1 million a room."
"I would plead with my colleague here from Oklahoma to bear with me and work with us on this," Lott implored.
Coburn resisted. "Call me cheap," he offered, unmoved.
But after more pressure, by Cochran, Coburn withdrew the amendment. A little later, he surrendered, somewhat reluctantly, on seven more amendments. "I just withdrew amendments for things I don't agree with," he noted.
It was almost a clean sweep for the earmark proponents, and it was time for Coburn's last stand: cutting an $11 million earmark for erosion control on the Sacramento River in California, more than 2,000 miles from New Orleans. "Abuse of taxpayer resources!" Coburn complained.
California's senators were ready in opposition, displaying posters and photos. "We could have a real catastrophe," countered Dianne Feinstein (D).
"We're borrowing the money from future generations," Coburn protested.
An indignant Barbara Boxer chided Coburn: "Penny-wise, pound-foolish."
The Senate, generous with both pennies and pounds, called it a night.
