Tom Coburn

The Honorable Tom Coburn, M.D.

Background Information

Dr. Coburn and his wife, Carolyn, a former Miss Oklahoma, were married in 1968 and have three children and four grandchildren. They are members of Muskogee's New Community Church.[1]

A Citizen Legislator

"Dr. Coburn represented Oklahoma's Second Congressional District in the House of Representatives from 1995 through 2001. He was first elected in 1994, then re-elected in 1996 and 1998, becoming the first Republican to hold the seat for consecutive terms. Dr. Coburn retired from Congress in 2001, fulfilling his pledge to serve no more than three terms in the House." [2]

When Coburn was first elected in to the House of Representatives in 1994, the year of the Republican Revolution he stated from the beginning that he would only serve three terms (if he was re-elected each time). Coburn believes in the idea of a term limited citizen legislator. In other words, a citizen who serves in Congress for several years and then goes home to live under the laws they have helped to create.

Coburn's Activities in the House

During his tenure in the House, Dr. Coburn wrote and passed far-reaching legislation. These include laws to expand seniors' health care options, to protect access to home health care in rural areas and to allow Americans to access cheaper medications from Canada and other nations. Dr. Coburn also wrote a law intended to prevent baby AIDS. The Wall Street Journal said about the law, "In 10 long years of AIDS politics and funding, this is actually the first legislation to pass in this country that will rescue babies." He also wrote a law to renew and reform federal AIDS care programs.

During his three terms in the House, Dr. Coburn also played an influential role in reforming welfare and other federal entitlement programs. He led efforts to balance the budget, offering countless amendments to trim the bloated federal budget.[3]

The Interlude

In 2002, President George Bush chose Dr. Coburn to serve as co-chair of the President's Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA).[4]

The Road to the Senate

In 2004, however, Coburn decided to return to public life and ran for and won a seat as a United States Senator from Oklahoma. In keeping with the idea of the citrizen legislator, Coburn has promised to serve only two terms in the Senate.[5]

Coburn's Senate Activities

Dr. Coburn's priorities in the Senate include reducing wasteful spending, balancing the budget, improving health care access and affordability, protecting the sanctity of all human life - including the unborn - and representing traditional, Oklahoma values. As a citizen legislator, Dr. Coburn has pledged to serve no more than two terms in the Senate and to continue to care for patients. He is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, the Indian Affairs Committee and the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.[6]