WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) released the following weekly Republican address. The address is available in both audio and video format and is embargoed until 6:00 a.m. ET, Saturday, April 16, 2011.
Podcast of the address:
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“Hello. I’m doctor, and U.S. Senator, Tom Coburn from Oklahoma.
“This was a historic week in Washington. For the first time in more than 15 years, Congress, under leadership of the House Republicans, is making significant spending cuts. While these cuts aren’t nearly enough, the American people should be encouraged. You have fundamentally changed the debate in Washington. Instead of increasing spending, Congress is now cutting spending. That is a monumental shift for Washington.
“Republicans have also changed the culture of Congress. Earmarks like the Bridge to Nowhere and the Woodstock Museum are a thing of the past. Just five years ago, Congress passed 14,000 pork projects worth $29 billion. This year, we’re on pace to have zero earmarks.
“These changes could not have come soon enough. Our nation is facing a $14.3 trillion national debt that our own military leaders call the greatest threat to our national security. In these challenging times, we need real leadership to bring us together. As Americans, there is not a problem that we can’t solve if we are together. And unfortunately, in his speech this week on the deficit, President Obama took us three steps backwards.
“Instead of describing the threat and bringing both sides together, the president attacked those who have a different vision of the government.
“As leaders we have a moral obligation to tell the country the truth. The truth is, is we could face a serious debt crisis sooner than anyone expects. We face an unsustainable debt and unsustainable entitlement programs like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. All of which will collapse if they’re not reformed.
“Just this week, the International Momentary Fund warned our country to get our fiscal house in order quickly before investors lose faith in our ability to repay our debts. If investors dump our bonds, which finance our deficit spending on everything from Social Security benefits and to the military spending, our economy could go into a tailspin. We would see interest rates skyrocket, which would harm consumers and add hundreds of billions of dollars to our debt every year.
“We’ve already seen Pimco, the world’s largest bond mutual fund, sell all of its holdings of U.S. Treasury bills. We’re also seeing troubling signs of inflation, and energy prices continue to rise.
“What we need to avert a debt crisis is real leadership and specific solutions, not campaign style political attacks.
“Unfortunately, the president failed to put a serious proposal on the table.
“And for instance, his plan includes a so-called ‘debt failsafe’ that fails to actually target the debt. Entitlement spending alone accounts for more than 80 percent of our long-term debt burden but the president’s plan exempts these programs from reform. By pretending that Medicare and Medicaid and Social Security are sound financially when they are not, the president is jeopardizing the benefits for the very Americans he says he wants to protect.
“He also proposed expanding his failed health care law that will cost Americans now over $2.6 trillion between now and the next 10 years. That makes our debt problem much more difficult to solve. The president wants to strengthen a board of unaccountable Medical Czars and give them more power to impose price controls and ration care.
“House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, who seemed to be the real target of the president’s speech, has charted a different course. His plan, which saves $6.2 trillion over ten years, outlines a path to prosperity, not austerity. He would save Medicare by giving all beneficiaries, beginning with those now under 55, access to high-quality health plans, similar to the plans that members of Congress enjoy.
“Also under Mr. Ryan’s plan, Medicaid’s safety net for the poorest patients would be strengthened by transitioning to block grants that empower states to provide care.
“As a physician I know first-hand that Medicaid, as it is currently structured, is often times a disaster for patients. Nearly half of physicians don’t accept Medicaid patients because the reimbursement rates set by bureaucrats in Washington are so low. Not surprisingly, patients on Medicaid have poorer health outcomes, higher rates of infant mortality and more complications after major surgery than individuals with no health insurance at all.
“In the America I know we liberate citizens from failing programs that deny them choice, dignity and care. The president’s plan, on the other hand, forces 24 million Americans into a failing Medicaid program that routinely denies care to patients who have no other options.
“The president also underestimated how much we could save by going after waste, fraud and abuse. In just six years of oversight in my office alone, we have identified more than $350 billion in annual waste in the federal government. The president says he wants to use a scalpel, but as a physician, let me tell you, when it comes to waste and duplication at the federal government level, we don’t need a scalpel. We need a chain saw.
“Finally, on the issue of tax reform, the president walked away from serious bipartisan compromise on tax reform reached by his very own deficit commission on which I served. Our blueprint lowered tax rates for everyone, and reduced the deficit by stimulating real economic growth. The president’s plan undermines our bipartisan agreement by calling for rate increases that will slow the economic growth that he so much wants.
“As someone who has spent most of my 63 years outside of politics, I know there isn’t a problem we can’t solve if we do it together. But the only way we can solve them is to put our political careers on the line and stop engaging in petty political attacks. To my Republican colleagues I often ask: What good is the Republican Party without a republic? And to my Democrats colleagues I ask: What good are your promises without an economy to sustain them?
“This week showed how far we have come but also how far we have to go. As long you – We the People – stay engaged and hold Washington accountable I have no doubt we’ll address the challenges ahead and secure the blessings of liberty for future generations. May God bless you, and our great country.”
TEXT and AUDIO CREDIT: Republican National Committee 310 First Street, SE Washington, DC 20003
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VIDEO CREDIT:
gopweeklyaddress
