QA With Sen. Tom Coburn, the Earmark Foe   November 8, 2007 RSS
Feed Print   • Comment   But lobbyists and interests from your
state must come to you asking for you to secure funding for
various museums, stadiums, etc. They did the first three months.
Here's what I asked them: "What program do you want to cut for
us to do this?"  And they didn't have any answers? No, they
didn't. They just want more.  So they stopped coming? They still
come; they just stopped asking. They know that I'm not about to
sponsor an earmark. I'll never sponsor an earmark.... If you
start doing earmarks, what you do is not do the rest of your job
and that's this: oversight. You hear all the appropriators say,
"We can't just let the bureaucracy spend this money. We need to
direct it." Well, what our Founders say is, "It's our
responsibility to make sure the government is spending it the
right way and hold them accountable when they make poor
choices."... Earmarks take your focus off what your job is.  Do
you think it's hurt you with c