For Coburn, no backing down on spending

• Article
• Comments ()
• Click-2-Listen
• Videos

By Kara Rowland

Despite being in the minority in a Senate that is more tilted to Democrats than at any time in the past three decades, Sen. Tom Coburn, Oklahoma Republican, has gone head to head with Majority Leader Harry Reid - and won.

His secret: He doesn't care.

Mr. Coburn's nonchalance about his own political future has given him the freedom to be Capitol Hill's most outspoken fiscal hawk and guardian of the Constitution. Most recently, his persistence paid off as he was able to attach an amendment allowing licensed firearms in some federal parks to a consumer credit card bill last week.

"I don't go away. He's learned that," Mr. Coburn says of his frequent floor battles with Mr. Reid. "Since I don't care whether I get beat up or not, I'm really dangerous for him."

In a chamber dominated by career politicians, Mr. Coburn has not shied away from ruffling feathers in his obsessive pursuit of shrinking the government. He rails against government waste with equal vigor be the culprits Democrats, Republicans or both.

That's because, he warns, the next generation's standard of living hangs in the balance. "We are stealing your very future. It is going away as we speak."

Four years into his first Senate term, the 61-year-old obstetrician is a self-described citizen legislator who has pledged to serve no more than two terms. He similarly limited himself to three terms in the House, where he served from 1995 to 2001.

Mr. Coburn's stated reasons for public service are a far cry from the grandiose, boilerplate response one might expect from a member of Congress.

"I was disgusted and worried," he says flatly. "I think what we have is at risk, and it's actually much more at risk today than it ever has been."

As a member of the Republican Revolution's freshman class, he was frustrated by the House Republican leadership's failure to follow through on its Contract With America, later penning a book about the experience called "Breach of Trust."