Reid and the Senate FINALLY say NO to Dr No

You can place this one in the It’s about damn time department. Tom Coburn has been the Senate’s chief obstructionist, he initiated 73 filibusters in the 110 Congress alone. Kudos to Harry Reid for finally saying ENOUGH! Lets hope there is more of this to come..




The Senate voted during a rare Sunday session to move forward on a package that has become known as the “Coburn omnibus” because it is designed to thwart a filibuster by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.). The most recent version of the Coburn omnibus is a 1,000-plus page package that consists of more than 160 different provisions governing various land-use issues.


Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) tried to move many of the provisions through the Senate last year but action was held up by Coburn’s use of dilatory procedural tactics. Reid’s decision to vote on a Sunday to quash Coburn’s filibuster was interpreted by some Senate observers as a non-too-subtle rebuke of the junior senator from Oklahoma. The cloture motion passed 66-12.

The Democratic leader, however, denied that he was taking a personal shot at Coburn, with whom he has clashed with increasing frequency over the past year. Reid told The Hill that he needed to pass a cloture motion to end debate and proceed to the bill because he wanted to pass the lands bill and The Lilly Ledbetter Act, which would reverse a Supreme Court decision on wage discrimination lawsuits, before President-elect Obama’s inauguration. “I’m trying to work to get as much done before the inauguration [as possible],” said Reid. “I’m trying to get Lilly Ledbetter done before the holiday.” Martin Luther King Day is Jan. 19. Obama will be sworn in as president the following day.

Meantime, Coburn criticized Reid for quashing debate on the lands bill. “I’m disappointed the Senate majority leader has refused to allow senators the opportunity to improve, amend or eliminate any of the questionable provisions in his omnibus lands bill,” said Coburn in a statement before the vote. The Oklahoma senator said the $10 billion bill is full of “wasteful projects.” “You cannot defend the directed earmarks in this bill in any way shape or form,” said Coburn during the floor debate. He filed 13 amendments last week targeting various Republican and Democratic projects in the bill.

Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.), chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, however, defended the merits of the legislation.
Bingaman has noted that the omnibus contains an equal mix of Democratic and Republican bills and has bipartisan sponsors. “Collectively, the bill is one of the most sweeping conservation laws considered by the Senate in recent years. It will designate over 2 million acres of wilderness in nine different states,” said Bingaman in a statement. “It would establish three new units of the National Park System, a new National Monument and three new National Conservation Areas, and codify the Save America’s Treasures and Preserve America historic preservation programs,” Bingaman added.

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