Is $150,000,000 a lot of money to you? Or is it just chicken feed?
That’s how much of your money Rep. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma saved by blocking wasteful spending in recent appropriation bills. He stopped a 12 percent increase in the Agriculture budget, headed not to farmers but to the bureaucrats in Washington. He also angered colleagues by blocking a big increase in spending for Congress itself.
Money doesn’t mean as much to folks in the nation’s capitol as it does to you and me. They’re always spending other people’s money, namely yours.
The Washington Post referred to the millions Coburn saved as “chicken feed.” Our national government spends $40,000 a second. How long does a person have to be around such spending before losing all touch with economic reality?
While it’s frustrating that the political class in Washington doesn’t value the hard-earned tax dollars American working people pay, it’s rewarding to see how frustrated they are at having to deal with a Tom Coburn. You see, Coburn limited himself to three terms and will not seek reelection next year. So there’s no way to threaten or bribe him.
“Government of, by and for the people” means sending representatives to Washington who will represent the taxpayers, rather than promote their careers by fattening special interests. Tom Coburn’s courage in holding the line on spending has led a Capitol Hill newspaper, to call him “the de facto leader of the House.”
That kind of statesmanship isn’t chicken feed, it’s priceless.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.