Word: coburn
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...COBURN, Republican Senator from Oklahoma, during a hearing with former executives of Washington Mutual. The Senate panel found that the company--the largest bank in U.S. history to fail--made loans it knew would be difficult to repay...
...Granted, this time around the agitator is the much more media-friendly Republican Senator from Oklahoma, Tom Coburn, who - unlike Bunning - is not known for flipping off reporters. Before the Senate adjourns for a two-week Easter recess on Friday, Democrats are hoping to pass another one-month extension of benefits - the yearlong extension has been held up as differences are worked out with the House - to tide over the unemployed until lawmakers can pass a more permanent solution. Coburn's objection is the same as Bunning's: that Democrats are not paying for the $10 billion bill. "I think...
...Republican leaders have not totally dug in their heels. They have actually agreed to proceed with a vote on the unfunded bill - but most Republicans are expected to vote against the bill, and Dems will need at least one Republican to reach the magic threshold of 60 to overcome Coburn's filibuster and pass the bill. Even if they managed that, however, it'll take at least until Sunday evening to procedurally bypass the filibuster, and many Senators are impatient to go home or depart on long-planned trips abroad (the security for which is expensive to rearrange). (See pictures...
...while Reid and Coburn are trying to hash out an agreement - Bunning eventually settled for a vote on an amendment that would have paid for the bill using unused stimulus funds, which failed - other Senators are looking at leaving and then passing legislation when they reconvene April 12. "Whatever we do will be retroactive if we don't get it done now," Senator Debbie Stabenow, a Michigan Democrat, told reporters...
...provisions ran out last month during Bunning's filibuster, that means thousands of Transportation Department workers getting laid off, gaps in unemployment and health coverage for some of the most desperate Americans and bureaucratic nightmares costing millions of dollars for the necessary paperwork to retroactively apply benefits. Bunning and Coburn both make a valid point: it is hypocritical of Dems to not practice what they preach on the deficit, and this would be the fifth unpaid bill to pass thus far this year. But making the point on the backs of the most needy is probably the wrong...