Obviously, not all government programs succeed in doing what they are intended to do, and others accomplish their task inefficiently and could achieve the same goals at less cost. But it seems pretty lame to cap your Senate career by blocking a bill that spends a modest $22 million trying to lower the incidence of military veteran suicides.
But that’s what Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma has done.
He earned the moniker “Dr. No” for creating the Tea Party tactic of filibustering everything on God’s Green Earth. A few years later, Mitch McConnell adopted the strategy for the entire Republican Party. It’s hard to remember that Coburn stood out when he began this dysfunction, but he’s just another senator these days.
I guess he wanted to remind us that before there was a Party of No, there was just one lonely doctor.
