Senator Tom Coburn’s Parting Message to Fellow Senators

Tom Coburn is a doctor from Oklahoma. He came to Washington in 1994 as part of the Gingrich revolution. He’s served in both the House and the Senate and his passion has been to act as a spoiler to wasteful spending. Dubbed “citizen legislator,” Coburn never intended to make politics his career. After serving the term he promised in the House he stepped down. Re-elected to the Senate, he’s been a thorn in Harry Reid’s side but now, due to a battle with cancer, his time of service has come to an end. As he left the Senate on Tuesday evening he offered his colleagues some sage advice:

“The magic number in the Senate is not 60, the number of senators needed to end debate, and it is not 51, a majority. The most important number in the Senate is one — one senator,” he told several dozen of his colleagues who had come to the floor to hear him speak. “The Senate has a set of rules that gives each individual member the power needed to advance, change or stop legislation.”

He also read his colleagues the oath of office they take, in which they pledge to defend the Constitution. He urged them to pay attention: “Your state isn’t mentioned one time in that oath. Your whole goal is to protect the United States of America, its Constitution and its liberties. It is not to provide benefits to your state.”

Tom Coburn had the courage to withhold yes votes on very important legislation through the years because the bills brought to the floor for consideration were packed with excesses and pork. If we had more like him, Congress might actually earn the trust of the American people.