"...the Coburn amendment is a poison pill"
Senator Tom Coburn is offering a great amendment to a bill that would make technical corrections to the 2005 Highway Bill. His proposal would seek an investigation into the Coconut Road earmark that was inserted into the original bill by Alaska Rep. Don Young after it was approved by both chambers. That alone is bad, but it gets worse.
Coconut Road is near Fort Myers, Florida, which is obviously thousands of miles from Alaska.
According to this New York Times article, the earmark was sought by a developer who had given Young over $40,000 in campaign contributions. If true, that's bad. Very, very bad. And the situation deserves to be investigated.
Since voting against the Coburn amendment would not look good, it is expected to pass. And if it passes, then the overall bill will probably fail. That has Democratic leaders worried. Here's what one Senate aide told me via email:
"...a number of sources [told me] that Speaker Pelosi has been making “threatening” calls to Senate offices warning that a vote for the Coburn amendment would kill the underlying bill, which is tucked full of election year goodies. Less than two years ago, you might recall, Pelosi promised to “drain the swamp” and “break the link between lobbyists and legislation” if elected Speaker of the House. It appears that she has instead made “the swamp” a protected wetlands for politicians and campaign contributors."
One memo that I was told was being circulated to Senate Democrats says that "the Coburn amendment is a poison pill." Right now, opposition to the Coburn amendment is being led on the Senate floor by Senator Barbara Boxer. Tune into C-SPAN to watch the coverage.
