The Public Record
Tom Coburn is a former U.S. Senator from Oklahoma, serving from 2005 to 2015. A member of the Republican Party, Coburn was known for his fiscal conservatism and advocacy for government transparency. He was a practicing physician before entering politics, which influenced his views on healthcare and government spending. Throughout his tenure, he was a vocal critic of wasteful government expenditures and often called for reforms to improve accountability in Congress.
Every application made to the FDA has to have the primary intent of a drug, as the gentleman well knows. My objection to the point of order is we presented this just like every other limitation that has been placed in this Congress on the…
Of the 8 to 9 percent of the children that are born, 50 percent of those children, a large number, have microcephaly, which is a smaller-than-normal brain which leads to severe retardation, a large number have hydrocephaly, which means…
The amendment would not apply to any drug that is applied to the FDA that the primary purpose is not intended to be an abortifacient. For example, there is a drug that is presently on the market called Cytotec. The gentlewoman is familiar…
First of all, the department is much more knowledgeable than my colleague might give them credit for. They understand what drugs are used for, and they are scientists and very good at what they do. And if, in fact, some company is making…
This is not a medical procedure in my estimation. This is murder. This has nothing to do with medicine. It has to do with murder at the convenience of the abortionist.
It is not a matter of knowing life or death; it is a matter of knowing techniques that are used. There is a very big difference in saying that we can use a procedure that is a convenience to the abortionist that is heinous, that is totally…
Again reclaiming my time, easy. The doctor would do the same thing in terms of preparing, if the life need to be terminated for the life of the woman, which in fact in this case I do not know the details, I cannot say.
The point is that we have a larger problem with juvenile justice and children and adolescents in this country where we are not addressing it. No matter what we have increased it, we have programs out there that are not going to be funded…
Is it not true that in the report language coming out of the committee of the gentlewoman from Maryland [Mrs. Morella] that, in fact, what was said was ``In an era of scarce Federal research and development dollars, funding ATP is simply a…
So the question that comes is, are there people that are going to be out there that are not going to have available treatment? Mr. Chairman, the gentleman from Illinois, Chairman Porter has done a wonderful job in increasing this, there is…
I guess I would just like to inquire, is it the gentleman's belief that there are not people in our country today under the funding proposal we are putting forward who are not going to get treatment for HIV that cannot afford triple drug…
I would be happy to answer that. I was involved in trying to get an across-the-board cut in every appropriations bill in 1996. The purpose for that is to try to control the spending so we could balance the budget. There is no question it…
We are going to spend the money, we have all agreed to that. I did not vote for the budget, but that was the will of this House. The President and the Congress decided to do that. There is nothing wrong with having a debate about where we…
In Muskogee, Oklahoma, we would be happy to have the $700 that would come to our school district since we have a deficit, and one of the reasons we do is because of the mandate of IDEA on us to educate all our children, not those with just…
Just to finalize this, the contrast here is not to hurt people who are working. The contrast here is to fund a program that we have mandated to the States to allow local people to decide what they are doing, to take and force efficiency on…
The implication is not punishment. The implication is how do we drive efficiency within the bureaucracy of our Government. Necessity is the mother of invention, and if in fact there is less money, we will drive invention to get the job…
I would even propose that we might increase those funds. But I think we ought to be very careful about what we want and what the truth is in terms of what really happens in international family planning. I will support the will of this…
I can guarantee my colleagues that it is reassuring to my constituents and those of many other Western States to know that their tax dollars will not be used in support of a program which is not accountable to Congress.
I just think the point needs to be made, Mr. Chairman, the core area of the biosphere, I do not have any objection to it at all. The fact is, it has a tremendous impact on other people, without a good representative walk through our body…
No, that is the World Heritage preserves. All treaties, all treaties have to have implementing language and also appropriations that come from authorizing; that is, if we would look at the Camp David accords, we do not just automatically…
If that is the case, then let us authorize it and do it right, rather than do it in an unauthorized fashion.
Having been unintelligent and ignorant, what I would put forth and focus on is there are people who do not have the right to do what they had the right to do before the Man and the Biosphere Program came into their own land. The gentleman…
I am talking about local property rights, to make sure everybody that was included in it had their individual rights as property owners checked as well. That is one of the real complaints. We can ignore it and say everybody is fanatics…
The U.S. Man and the Biosphere Program has never been authorized, never. The gentleman's side does not dispute that fact. It has never been authorized. So let us authorize it, if that is the case.
There are three States that have already issued through the State legislatures a requirement that they not have this U.S. Man and the Biosphere: Kentucky, Colorado, and the third is Alaska.
Politicians like Tom Coburn
