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*Dr. Coburn is scheduled to speak on the Senate floor regarding his series of sequestration letters to the administration, duplication, and waste at 2:45 p.m. EST today*  Dr. Coburn sent the following letter to OMB highlighting more than 1,362 duplicative programs accounting for at least $364.5 billion in federal spending every year as identified by [...]

It is a very old story that I have heard repeated many times. It seems that legislators cannot hold a budget hearing or meet with representatives of state and local government agencies without being subjected to a long and nuanced description of the agency’s great financial needs. Government agencies don’t have to compete for business [...]

Last week, I wrote of the House of Representatives’ creation of new committees designed to expand legislative purview at the state level. Specifically, I pointed to the attempt to gain a grasp on the state’s overwhelming dependence on federal dollars. Massive amounts of federal spending are channeled through state government. It appears as if about [...]

The Real Story of How a Bill Becomes Law This week marks the first deadline when state legislators (Representatives and Senators) must submit notice of their intent to file bills for the 2013 legislative session. By House rule, Representatives are limited to eight legislative initiatives, so we must carefully select the ideas we want to [...]

Why did your Property Tax go up? When many of House District 31 residents, who also live in Logan County, received their new property tax assessments last April, they noticed a refreshing sight. Their property assessment stayed the same or may have even dropped. This is because the Logan County Assessor has been embarking on [...]

Perhaps no effort to shrink the size of state government has been more aggressive than the attempt to consolidate the state’s massive information technology infrastructure. As part of this reform, we included a robust reporting requirement in the legislation that mandated the reform. This requirement asks state officials to submit a report detailing the progress [...]

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – U.S. Senator Tom Coburn, M.D. (R-OK) today released an oversight report, “Department of Everything.” The report outlines how DOD can save $67.9 billion over ten years by making specific cuts to what Dr. Coburn describes as “non-defense” defense spending – spending that DOD can cut without cutting vital defense priorities. “I believe [...]

All, Dr. Coburn delivered the following speech last night in which he offered his post-election analysis, and his response to those who are asking where conservatives go from here. Excerpts: This election, I believe, is a seminal moment in history.  We may have passed a tipping point.  I woke up on Tuesday believing we were [...]