Tom Coburn: “In thinking about where we are today, I asked myself what the average Oklahoman would ask of me about this bill, or the…”

“In thinking about where we are today, I asked myself what the average Oklahoman would ask of me about this bill, or the average person from Wyoming or California. As I think about it, we have a bill that has 45 blatant earmarks in it. It is not a new day in Washington. Despite arguments to the contrary, we are going to significantly alter our access to millions of barrels of oil and trillions of cubic feet of natural gas by what we are doing. We are going to create a further imbalance. We have almost 107 million acres of wilderness area. We are going to add another 2.2 million acres to that today. We are going to trample on property rights as we haven't in decades, both directly and indirectly. I asked myself: Why are we doing it? I believe we are doing it because we are thinking in the very short term. I also believe we are doing it because we pride ourselves in the parochial benefits that we can return to our States at the expense of the best judgment in terms of decisionmaking for our future.”