Altus and surrounding communities gave US Senator Tom Coburn a good turn out for his Nov. 12 Town Hall Meeting at Western Oklahoma State College. The Senator addressed the crowd briefly and left over an hour for questions from the audience. In his address, Coburn stated that "We are spending money we don't have on things we don't need." This puts us in a precarious situation because our foreign policy is being influenced by our debt. This in turn sets us up for three things, according to Coburn. First, the outsiders are in control. Next things get more expensive, and inflation lowers our standard of living.

Coburn feels we must set our priorities and take a stand for our beliefs. He used himself as an example. He is currently holding up a bill for Veterans. Not because he doesn't care about Vets, he said, but because the bill is unfunded and discriminates against Vietnam and Gulf war Vets. He wants Congress to cut somewhere else to be responsible for promises made to Vets. Even if this bill passed, Coburn stated, no one would receive any benefits from it for 18 months.

Health care takes up to one-sixth of our economy. Despite providing the best health care in the world, "Cost denies access to care. " He hasn't seen the final Senate version of the Health Care Initiative yet. He said the House bill "lacks common sense." Out of the $282 billion needed to finance the bill, $167 billion will go straight to the deficit. That's money our children and grand children will have to pay. Of the number of uninsured in the US, 15 million are already eligible for care now through programs like SCHIP (State Children's Health Insurance Plan), they just need to be signed up. They routinely get their primary care through an emergency room instead of having a physician. Then 11 million are eligible for some form of insurance but do not wish to take it, and 11 million more people are illegal immigrants. That leaves 8 million, according to Coburn, who are not insured.

Questions from the audience ranged from the hot topic of the day, health care, to Vet's issues, taxes and the economy, cuts to education, the FDIC and community banks, abortion, Medicare D, the tandem wars in the Middle East, activities of the ACLU, the US treaty process, political correctness and the Ft. Hood killings, and the cap and trade law.

We are slated to have our troops out of Iraq by 2011, according to Coburn. Afghanistan is another matter. He's been to Afghanistan twice and feels if we pull out it will totally embolden Al Qaida and the hardcore Taliban. "We don't want to put our troops on the line without the opportunity to win," he said. The crowd applauded in agreement.

"The future of our republic is at risk over fiscal issues," Coburn said. We need to question the premise behind most projects. Because we refuse to make tough decisions, Congress will be forced to make them for us. There is hope though, according to Coburn. "The American people are starting to let their voices be heard."

For more information, see Coburn's web site at http://coburn.senate.gov/public/