SHAMEFUL:  Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) is willing to hold his constituents in the face of a major tornado disaster in Moore, Okla., hostage by saying he won’t support disaster relief for his home state unless the budget is cut elsewhere. Given that he voted against Sandy relief aid for New York and New Jersey, I have to say he’s consistent, if anything. To echo Americablog, Tom Coburn is “taking his own constituents hostage as budget-cutting human shields.” Absolutely disgraceful to the Oklahomans killed, including scores of children.

CQ Roll Call reporter Jennifer Scholtes wrote for CQ.com Monday evening that Coburn said he would “absolutely” demand offsets for any federal aid that Congress provides.

Coburn added, Scholtes wrote, that it is too early to guess at a damage toll but that he knows for certain he will fight to make sure disaster funding that the federal government contributes is paid for. It’s a position he has taken repeatedly during his career when Congress debates emergency funding for disaster aid.

Scholtes points out that Coburn was one of 36 Republican senators who voted against disaster funding for Superstorm Sandy in January. Source

Isn’t it time for us to vote people like Tom Coburn out of office? He isn’t doing the will of his constituents. He’s doing his own thing in Washington D.C. I guess natural disasters couldn’t possibly hit Tom Coburn, Jim Inhofe and others directly, right? Just a thought, why won’t Sens. Tom Coburn and Jim Inhofe propose cuts to subsidies given to their buddies in the oil industry? No-one should be surprised at their actions. They also tried to filibuster medical funds to 9/11 first responders.

This was cross-posted from The Hinterland Gazette.