CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION SPARKING BUZZ, BUT ODDS STILL LONG

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- With Republicans controlling more than half the state legislatures across the country, some want to use that power to push for a federal spending limit through a mechanism unused since George Washington's day.

Their plan: Persuade enough states to call a national constitutional convention so that a federal balanced budget amendment can be added to the Constitution.

It would be a historic move. The United States has not held a constitutional convention since Washington himself led the original proceedings in Philadelphia in 1787.

"Everywhere I'd go at town hall meetings, people would say, `What are we going to do? There's no hope. How do we fix our country?' And the fact is, this gives great hope," said former U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, an outspoken budget hawk and longtime supporter of a federal balanced budget amendment.

There also are risks if the movement succeeds. A convention could expand to take on myriad issues beyond the federal budget, including campaign finance reform and other changes sought by Democrats.

Calling such an assembly would require approval from 34 states. The GOP now controls both legislative chambers in 30.

Convention proposals were introduced or discussed in about three dozen legislatures this year and approved by three of them. Over the past four decades, 27 states have endorsed the idea at one time or another.

"There's definitely people who are very serious about it," said Michael Leachman, director of state fiscal research at the Washington-based nonprofit Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. "We're seeing these resolutions get debated in state legislatures around a decent portion of the country."

Still, successfully calling a constitutional convention is a longshot.

Unlike other parts of the conservative agenda that have sailed through GOP statehouses, the convention debate is complicated because it involves three separate proposals that have overlapping - but not identical - goals. And even some leading Republicans consider a possible convention too unpredictable to support.

Backers of the idea hope the presidential race will stir more interest. Five of the Republican candidates have spoken favorably about it.

GOP hopefuls Bobby Jindal, Mike Huckabee and John Kasich all have recently endorsed convening a constitutional convention. Rand Paul has said he "wouldn't have a problem" with the states calling one under Article V. Ted Cruz said via Twitter in 2013 that "the possibility grows more and more" for a constitutional convention.

"It's becoming a presidential issue," said Mark Meckler, co-founder of Tea Party Patriots. "Candidates are being asked about it."

Every state except Vermont has a legal requirement for a balanced budget, but Congress does not.

Under Article V of the Constitution, adding an amendment can be done via a two-thirds vote of Congress and then ratification by three-fourths of states, or 38. That's the way all the current constitutional amendments came about, but few could imagine Congress passing a balanced budget amendment.

That leaves a second option: calling a constitutional convention. Two-thirds of the states, or 34, would have to request a national assembly to draft amendments. Any amendments would subsequently have to be ratified by at least 38 states to go into effect.

Three different proposals seeking a constitutional convention have been circulating in statehouses.

The one discussed most often this year was the "Convention of States" plan supported by Coburn and Meckler. It seeks an assembly with an agenda that would include the balanced budget amendment, term limits for offices that include the U.S. Supreme Court and broad caps on congressional taxation authority.

Alabama this year became the fourth state to approve it, and it was discussed in at least 35 legislatures. But the risk that Democratic priorities also could be considered during a constitutional convention was too scary for some, including in Texas, where the proposal died in the state Senate this session after passing the House.

"I was surprised at how strong the fear of a runaway convention was," said state Sen. Paul Bettencourt, a Houston Republican who sponsored the proposal.

A more limited effort, named the Compact for America, is backed by the American Legislative Exchange Council, which provides model legislation for conservative lawmakers. It includes only the balanced budget amendment, which, at least theoretically, could discourage amendments on other topics. So far, it has been passed in Alaska, Georgia, North Dakota and Mississippi.

The third initiative is the oldest and closest to its 34-state goal, but also is the most unpredictable. In May, North Dakota became the 27th approving state. But that group also includes Democratic-leaning states that would like to overturn the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision from 2010, which allows corporations and unions to spend unlimited amounts during political campaigns.

Also, some states approved the initiative decades ago, when their political composition was much different. That means some of them could rescind their approval if the initiative draws closer to the 34-state threshold.

"There's too many unknowns," said Pat Carlson of the conservative Texas Eagle Forum. "There are people who are far to the left and they are waiting for this. Once the convention is convened, there will be no control over it."

But even if none of the proposals ultimately succeeds, Coburn said, they could scare Congress into action.

"Whether it's the Convention of States, or the compact or the balanced budget amendment, when they get close, Congress is going to be looking over its shoulder," he said. "They'll say, `We'd better get this done or we're going to lose some of our power.'"

Via: AP

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Sen. Coburn Demands Pentagon Show How $500B Budget Is 'Squandered'

Retiring Sen. Tom Coburn has called on Congress to force the Pentagon to start showing American taxpayers exactly where the military is spending – and overspending – its $500 billion annual budget.

In a commentary for The Washington Times, the Oklahoma Republican said the Department of Defense is violating the Constitution by never having "passed a single audit," while also attacking the agency for its "wanton mismanagement" of government money.

Coburn wrote that the Pentagon is the only government agency that cannot produce auditable financial statements "in accordance with the law."

"Not knowing where this money is going isn’t just lawless, it is a threat to both our economic and national security," he said, adding that "Congress is fully complicit in this scam on American taxpayers."

He said that without an annual financial audit, the Pentagon has no idea where its tax dollars are going, whether it’s getting good value for money or even if it got what it paid for last year.

"Sadly, few in Congress seem to care that untold billions are squandered every year through wanton mismanagement and neglect," wrote the senator, who was diagnosed with a recurrence of prostate cancer last year and is stepping down after the November elections, two years before his term expires.

"The only way this cycle can be broken is for the American people to demand that Congress use its power of the purse to demand accountability at the Defense Department, rather than simply rubber-stamp the defense budget."

In his guest column, Coburn said that an "open amendment process" would result in the push for an annual Pentagon audit being debated in Congress.

He singled out Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for criticism, saying that the Nevada Democrat would not even allow amendments to be introduced and debated on the nearly $700 billion, 600-page annual defense authorization bill.

Via: Newsmax
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Congress Turns Spotlight to Government Waste

The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform highlighted wasteful federal spending on Thursday, holding a hearing that cited numerous examples of the practice, but few successes in eliminating it.

The hearing led with testimony from Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Tom Carper (D., Del.) and Ranking Member Tom Coburn (R., Okla.), whoserecent release of the 2013 Wastebook identified over $30 billion in frivolous government spending.

Coburn said the problem of government waste is not caused by a lack of bipartisanship in Washington.

“My take is we get along too well,” he said. “We have presidents that come and go, Congresses who come and go, and we still have government waste. Why is that?”

“The problem isn’t that we don’t know what the problem is,” Coburn said, “it’s that we don’t act on the problem.”

The hearing exposed a lengthy list of examples, including $9 billion in tax breaks and loans to the wealthy that saw farm subsidies going to Ted Turner, Jon Bon Jovi, and former NBA player Scottie Pippen.

Thomas Schatz, the president of Citizens Against Government Waste, testified to the numerous overlap in federal programs. “Analysis is virtually non-existent” for the 47 job training programs across nine agencies, he said, which cost $18 billion in fiscal year 2009.

Thirteen agencies administered 209 science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) programs totaling $3.1 billion in FY 2010, though the United States still lags behind other countries in the STEM field.

Via: WFB:

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Coburn: Year could go down as one of America's 'worst'

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) on Monday night argued this year could be remembered as one of the “worst for the republic," and he urged voters to clean house in the midterm elections.  

Coburn lamented the rollout of President Obama’s healthcare law, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-Nev.) decision to use the “nuclear option” to change Senate rules and the unwillingness of both parties to address the main drivers of the debt. 

“In 2014, here's a message worth considering: If you don't like the rulers you have, you don't have to keep them,” Coburn said in an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, echoing President Obama's failed promise on health insurance.

The lawmaker also took the administration to task for delaying the mandate on large businesses to provide insurance to their workers while not offering individuals the same relief. 

“The president apologized in part for his statements, but his actions reveal the extent to which he has conformed to, rather than challenged, the political culture that as a presidential candidate he vowed to reform,” Coburn said. 

Coburn also blasted Reid for using “raw political power” to change Senate rules to allow most executive branch nominees to advance with a simple majority vote. He argued Reid was trampling minority rights. 

“In a republic, if majorities can change laws or rules however they please, you're on the road to life with no rules and no laws,” he said. 

Coburn said neither party should be celebrating the modest budget agreement reached earlier this month, which set spending levels for the next two years and avoided a government shutdown. 

Via: The Hill

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Feds provide cradle-to-beyond-the-grave 'security'

There are 78 inspectors general toiling away in major federal departments and independent agencies, tasked with exposing waste, fraud and abuse in government.

Few of the IGs become public figures, even when, like Daniel Levinson, they and their staff have saved taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars over the years.

Levinson is the IG at the Department of Health and Human Services, which means his first job is fighting Medicare and Medicaid fraud.

Two new reports from Levinson this week cast a disturbing spotlight on the depth and durability of corruption in federal health care spending.

Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., himself a medical doctor and the Senate's most devoted advocate of federal spending reforms, summarized what Levinson found:

"The reports show Medicare wasted $23 million in care on the deceased in 2011, $25 million on dead doctors between 2009-2011, and $29 million for prescription drugs to more than 4,000 unlawfully present beneficiaries between 2009-2011."

Really? 'Only' $77 million?

In a $3.5 trillion annual federal budget with a deficit of nearly $700 billion, a mere $77 million might seem like pittance.

But consider just a few things that $77 million could have been spent on instead of dead doctors and other corpses:

— $10,000 education scholarships for 7,700 at-risk kids to give them real hope for escaping inner-city poverty and crime to live rewarding, productive lives.

— 2.2 million flu shots for elderly people most vulnerable to death from the illness (at the $35 retail charge reported by Bloomberg for walk-ins at a commercial pharmacy like Walgreens).

— Provide luxury apartments for a year for 3,208 homeless people (at $2,000 per month rent for 12 months).

Via: Washington Examiner

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Report: Coburn calls Reid an 'absolute a--hole'

Coburn made the comment during an event for the New York Young Republican Club, the newspaper reported.

"There's no comity with Harry Reid,” he said. “I think he's an absolute a--hole."

Coburn’s office did not respond to a request for comment about the remarks.

Coburn did compliment other Democrats in the Senate, specifically naming Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.).

"I have great relationships with Chuck Schumer. I don't say that in Oklahoma," he said.

Coburn has had sharp words for Reid in the past. Earlier this year, Coburn said Reid was a “failure” as a majority leader and had been “dishonest” with him.

The dustup came because Coburn accused Reid of breaking his promise to allow a vote on an amendment allowing gun owners to carry firearms in recreational areas during the gun control debate.

In 2012, Coburn apologized after calling Reid incompetent.

Via: The Hill

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Coburn calls on Oklahomans to push for national constitutional convention

MUSKOGEE — U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn urged Oklahomans on Wednesday to join the movement for a national constitutional convention to cut down an oversized federal government and counter what he repeatedly referred to as a “lawless” Obama administration.

“I used to have a great fear of constitutional conventions,” Coburn told about 300 people at the Muskogee Convention Center. “I have a great fear now of not having one.”

A national convention called by two-thirds of the state legislatures is one of two ways the U.S. Constitution can be amended. Such a convention has never been called, largely because the Constitution itself was the product of a convention authorized only to amend the existing Articles of Confederation, but which replaced it entirely.

Thus, political leaders and scholars have long held that such a convention could be dangerous and even destructive to the nation.

But as conservative frustration with the Obama administration has grown, some factions have begun advocating for such a convention.

Coburn’s announcement that he had read what amounts to the national convention movement manifesto, Mark Levin’s “Liberty Amendments,” drew the loudest applause and reaction of the hour-long town hall meeting.

It might also have somewhat cooled the emotions of those in the crowd who were upset because Coburn has been so outspoken in his opposition to a proposal to “defund” the Affordable Care Act by holding the rest of the government’s discretionary spending hostage when current authorization ends on Sept. 30.

“If you’re going to do that, you’d be better off to do it through the debt ceiling,” Coburn said.

Pressed by questioners, Coburn said the proposal championed by conservative special interest groups such as Freedomworks and the Heritage Foundation — and Levin — would be “childish” and “intellectually dishonest.”

“I am 100 percent convinced it won’t work,” he said.

Via: Tulsa World

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