Tom Coburn: “I am trying to get to this paradigm where we pay $200,000 a year for lobbyists, and the lobbyists work to get an earmark…”

“I am trying to get to this paradigm where we pay $200,000 a year for lobbyists, and the lobbyists work to get an earmark for the university back in that is out of the priority of the peer review, scientifically evaluated, and at the same time, some of that $200,000 somehow ends up in campaign coffers, for some reason. I cannot figure out why, but it seems to. This doesn't stop it. What this says is they are going to just certify that the money they used for that wasn't their students' tuition and other Federal dollars that were designed for another purpose and coming back against that. It doesn't mean they cannot pay a lobbyist or hire a lobbyist or that anybody in there government affairs office cannot contact us to lobby for a particular position, which is their right. This is very narrowly defined to say: Do not spend the money you get from us, or your students, to hire the lobbyists to earmark something that is outside the peer review.”