Former Sen. Tom Coburn, an Oklahoma family doctor and conservative who railed against federal earmarks and subsidies for the rich, has died. Coburn delivered more than 4,000 babies while an obstetrician and treated patients for free while in the Senate.
FILE - In this March 28, 2018 file photo, former U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn speaks at a news conference in Oklahoma City. Coburn has died. He was 72. A cousin tells The Associated Press that he died early Saturday, March 28, 2020. Coburn had been diagnosed with prostate cancer years earlier. The Oklahoma Republican railed against federal earmarking and earned a reputation as a political maverick.
Known for bluntly speaking his mind, Coburn, a Republican, frequently criticized the growth of the federal deficit and what he said was excessive government spending endorsed by politicians from both political parties. He returned to his medical practice in Muskogee before asking voters to send him back to Washington, this time to the Senate, so he could fight big spenders and ensure “that our children and grandchildren have a future.”U.S. Sen. James Lankford, a Republican from Oklahoma, called Coburn “an inspiration to many.”
“I’m not aligned with him politically. I don’t know what people back home in Oklahoma would be worried about,” Coburn told the paper. “But you need to separate the difference in political philosophy versus friendship. How better to influence somebody than love them?”As a senator, Coburn released a series of reports on what he described as wasteful government spending.
A joint report in August 2010 by Coburn and Arizona Sen. John McCain, who died in 2018, criticized stimulus spending, including $1.9 million for international ant research and $39.7 million to upgrade the Statehouse and political offices in Topeka, Kansas.
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