Tom Coburn Is Straight On Right!

This has been buzzing around the blogosphere for a sometime now.

About time a Republican stands up for fiscal responsibility! What is this about?

Well, one of the examples of outrageous pork in particular is the infamous Alaska Bridge to Nowhere. Tom Coburn a freshman senator from Oklahoma has offered an amendment to HR Bill #3058 to defund the funding of the Alaska Bridge to Nowhere to the reconstruction of the Twin Spans bridge in Louisiana.

This amendment will transfer funding from the wasteful pork project, the "Bridge to Nowhere" in Alaska, to the repair and reconstruction of the "Twin Spans" bridge in Louisiana. According to published reports, the Alaskan pork project costs $220 million for a 5.9-mile bridge connecting Gravina Island (population 50) to the Alaskan mainland. The cost of the bridge alone would be enough to buy every island resident his own personal Lear jet.

Source The Club For Growth - The 'Bridge to Nowhere' and the Minimum Wage

Whoooohaaaaa! How about that! Hey, instead of buying one lear jet per person I think one per family should do.

In all seriousness, we need more legislators like Mr. Coburn. Now, is everyone jumping up to support this move? Nope, note the following from Powerline

Mrs. R. reports that Patty Murray is now speaking against the Coburn Amendment, and has just issued a threat against any Senators who vote for the amendment: we on the Appropriations Committee will take a "long, hard look" at any projects in your state. Can anyone say, "culture of corruption"?

Source: Powerline - Nice State You've Got Here, Too Bad if Anything Should Happen to It

Some pork barrel recipients have stood up and revoked their bacon, good for them (better yet would be not to have asked for it). Now, how about going through all recent appropriations and rubbing out a whole bunch of them?