For Coburn, no backing down on spending

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.”

“Too often, the Congress in my lifetime has gone in the direction of career protection rather than country protection,” he says. “It’s really a paradox - the less you want to stay here, the more free you are to do what’s in the best long-term interest of the country. But the even greater paradox is the more confidence you develop from your constituents because they know your motivations then are not about you.”

Mr. Coburn, who will announce on June 1 whether he will seek a second term next year, cites the case of colleague and former Republican Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, who switched parties to avoid an uphill primary battle.

“The question is, what’s the true motivation behind the public service - is it about the servant, or is it about those served? Only individuals can ask that in the quiet of their own mind,” he says. “He decided being in the Senate was more important than principles he’d aligned with for 40 years or staying true and loyal to the relationships he had. He chose to win at any cost. Is that about our country and is that about Pennsylvania, or is that about Arlen Specter?”

As for President Obama, whom - like Mr. Specter - he describes as a friend, Mr. Coburn says it’s too early to make a meaningful evaluation of his performance, but offers some mixed reviews. Although he has voted against every major Obama initiative thus far, including the president’s $3.6 trillion budget, Mr. Coburn praised the White House for suggesting $17 billion in cuts. In contrast, other Senate Republicans blasted the proposals as anemic.

“At least he had the courage to say, ‘I found $17 billion, let’s get rid of it,’ ” he says.

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