Sens. Reid, Coburn Spar on Senate Floor Over Shark Bill
- Posted on September 29, 2010 at 8:47pm by
Jonathon M. Seidl
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From The Hill’s Alexander Bolton:
The feud between Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) flared up again Wednesday over Coburn’s objection to a bill protecting sharks.
The shark legislation, which deals with a prohibition on the harvesting of shark fins, was one of several bipartisan bills intended to protect wildlife that drew objections from Coburn on Wednesday.
Reid called the bills “issues of good moral conscience,” but Coburn objected that they were gifts to special interest groups that would widen the deficit.
The fight began when Reid asked for unanimous consent to approve the Crane Conservation Act, marine mammals rescue assistance legislation, the Great Cats and Rare Canids Act, the Shark Conservation Act and the Southern Sea Otter Recovery and Research Act. All of the bills have already passed the House.
“Today we have the opportunity to help a great number of species,” Reid said in an impassioned plea for the bills on Tuesday evening.
Reid noted the Shark Conservation Act would improve federal enforcement of an existing prohibition on the harvesting of shark fins.
“Because of a loophole in the existing law, animals are still caught, their fins are severed and the dismembered shark is thrown back in the ocean to die,” said Reid. “But they don’t die. They suffer a horrible and protracted death. All that cruelty for a bowl of soup.”
Coburn has clashed often with Reid during the 111th Congress, often throwing up objections to business the Democratic leader considers routine and slowing the pace of work.
Their relationship got off to a bad start at the beginning of the 111th when Coburn blocked a routine request by Reid to introduce the Omnibus Public Land Management Act, which was a top priority of the leader. Reid scheduled an unusual Sunday vote to overrule Coburn.
When Coburn asked Wednesday to be recognized on the Senate floor — a routine request — Reid objected, leaving Coburn momentarily speechless.
Coburn then stood up on the floor an explained his opposition.
Coburn said the Senate should be working on ways to lower the federal deficit.
“The problems that are facing this country are so big and so massive that our attention ought to be focused on those large problems, not on five separate bills that have been proffered for special interest groups.”
Coburn said the bills would add to the federal deficit at a time “when our economy is languishing because we continue to grow the federal government.”
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Comments (64)
joseph Fawcett
Posted on September 30, 2010 at 12:40amGood for Coburn! I would like to hear more of that on the floors of the house and senate!
hope you will take a look at my personal website, http://www.josephfawcettart.com. I am a struggling new western artist. Hope you enjoy my work, thanks
Report Post »Nightstalker
Posted on September 30, 2010 at 12:09amI wish we had 50 more Tom Coburns in there. They can’t vote on a budget but they can worry about some shark fins?
Reid is an idiot and a crook, I can’t wait to see him in the unemployment line in NV.
Report Post »pamela kay
Posted on September 30, 2010 at 12:07amSo Harry, Let me get this straight. “A horrible and protracted death” kinda like you want to do to the american people, Right? Well Harry we kinda feel like your party is throwing America into the sharks so what’s your point? Oh yeah, spending more money that we don’t have, and giving those special interest groups paybacks. Right we get it Harry.
Report Post »Race
Posted on September 29, 2010 at 11:28pmHell with the fins, shark steak is yummy!
Report Post »SummerB
Posted on September 29, 2010 at 11:18pmWow, I’m impressed with Sen. Coburn. It’s not even a matter if the bills passed, it’s just the fact that Reid presented them that will matter to his animal rights supporters. But, yeah, 4.2 billion dollars in borrowing per day + I think $400 million in interest every month.
Report Post »missmarie
Posted on September 29, 2010 at 11:02pmClearly the donation check to Harry Reid from the “Save the Sharks” foundation is pending and will be mailed after approval of this legislation. Thank you Senator Coburn! I appreciate you advocating for the “save the citizens” foundation! Now, can we get the rest of the GOP get on board? No more spending!
Report Post »trueblueday
Posted on September 29, 2010 at 10:37pmThank you once again, Tom. He speaks of reason in a sea of insanity. He is by far one of our best representatives and continues to work hard for the American people. I only wish he was our senator in economically depressed Ohio. Reid and Pelosi have got to go.
Report Post »deborahmouser
Posted on September 29, 2010 at 10:04pmI love Coburn! Finally, someone has the b—s to tell them the truth- the country is in serious trouble and we don’t need to borrow more money to send to another country! Let’s fix the economy here before we ship the money overseas!
Report Post »cj51
Posted on September 29, 2010 at 10:03pmI think we need Tom Coburn for President…go Tom go…..
Report Post »alcarfl
Posted on September 29, 2010 at 9:49pm$13 trillion deficit and were debating shark fins. Who’s in charge of prioritizing bills in congress?
Report Post »spendthrift
Posted on September 29, 2010 at 9:32pmCan’t wait until Jaws takes one big bite out of the Progressive Agenda in November……
Report Post »Psychosis
Posted on September 29, 2010 at 9:29pmi am attempting to build a data base of congressional laws that have been offered, voted on and passed by the last 10 years of congress and categorize them as to unnecessary/pork/special interest/ ridiculous spending/ personal tax increase or decrease/ business tax increase or decrease/ and good for business, or bad for business. It would be interesting and an eye opener to say the least what our congress members think is important in actuality, and not have to depend on information from a spiel during political endevour. could someone point me to a web site that lists these laws, who wrote them who supported them, and the cost involved?
Report Post »LLATPOH
Posted on September 29, 2010 at 9:46pmAnd that, my friend, is the problem. I don‘t think you’d get all the bills over 1 year, let alone 10, even if there was a site that had it all.
As I’m sure you know, databases like data consistency. How would you catalog each one, then find the topicality of each bill to match? Can you imagine how many foreign keys based on topics you’d find? Make sure you’re using innoDB instead of ISAM. :)
Anyway – and I’m no congressional expert – but both good bills and bad bills are loaded with pork and special interest payoffs. They’re designed from inception to be confusing and deniable.
Not that I would discourage you from trying, but man-oh-man, I have a headache just scratching the surface of the schema you’d have to build.
Good luck, and I‘m sorry I don’t have a lead for you.
Report Post »Psychosis
Posted on September 29, 2010 at 10:02pmlucky for me i dont have any hair left to pull out lol actually what i aim to endevour is more like this
1. name of the bill
2. brief description of bill
3. name of people involved in pushing for bill
4. who it affects
5. list of bs pork in bill
6 list of who put bs pork in bill
7 cost of bill
8 cost of pork
9 necessary or just waste
THEN WE CAN GET RID OF IT OR KEEP IT BASED ON ITS MERITS
NOONE REALLY KNOWS WHATS IN THESE THINGS AND AFTER IT IS PASSED NOONE CARES ABOUT THE OUT COME
I am of firm belief that 95 % of all bills passed are what i call busy work just to make a special interest happy….
I think if you cant make your statement in the same amount of space that our constitution takes, that it is done wrong. period
Report Post »BetterDays
Posted on September 29, 2010 at 9:18pma group of sharks argued for hours as to weather or not eating only the leg of a surfer was cruel. The overwhelming concenseous among the sharks was that a surfer should only be totally consumed when all sharks spieces are represented and each gets just a morsel of human, otherwise it is just fine to eat only a leg.
Report Post »LLATPOH
Posted on September 29, 2010 at 9:35pmIn that meeting, the great white sharks objected and were pushing for “manifest dinnertime”, only to be called racist by their fellow sharks and heckled out of the room.
Whale sharks were not invited to the caucus, and binged on krell to protest.
Report Post »LLATPOH
Posted on September 29, 2010 at 9:16pmYou know Coburn’s going to be labeled “anti-shark” for this. Is there such a thing as being “sharkist?”
If so, Coburn should really defend himself, saying that he’s not sharkist and mention that some of his best friends are sharks. He should get off pretty light…. Right?
Report Post »GrassRootBeer
Posted on September 29, 2010 at 9:08pmHow about congress stop the finning of small businesses and work on preserving the American job?
Report Post »flyguync
Posted on September 29, 2010 at 9:15pmWell said! Maybe they can pass this bill with an amendment adding the American small business owner to the endangered species list!
Report Post »SnapTie
Posted on September 29, 2010 at 9:06pmI live on the ocean and i believe some protection might be in order. But we do have bigger problems than expanding Government. I see this on local levels also. It’s almost the politicians think they are cool if they make new rules.
Report Post »MrButcher
Posted on September 29, 2010 at 9:53pmso true…micro/macromanagment from the congress on banal issues. too much power. too much self-importance.
Report Post »MrButcher
Posted on September 29, 2010 at 9:03pmcan we pass a bill abolishing the federal government? and just have the 50 states break off and become 50 seperate countries. is that what this is coming to?
Report Post »wingedwolf
Posted on September 29, 2010 at 9:51pmI second the motion!
Report Post »baldwin4freedom
Posted on September 29, 2010 at 10:03pmNo, we do not want the states to become individual countries. The federal government has been overreaching for over 100 years and it is now coming to a head. Their policies have continued to fail and cause more problems that they must legislate fixes of which will create more problems that, again, they must legislate more fixes……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Report Post »The federal government needs to abide by what the original constitution intended, no more, no less. The remainder to the states and or to the people there of.
annieoakley
Posted on September 29, 2010 at 10:27pmSounds like a plan to me.(50 countries) No more NEA! No more bailing out DE troit. BTW, this is the second time I have bailed out Chrysler. Just think about it. No more Dept.of Education, Dept. of Agriculture, Dept. of Transportation, SEC?,the Federal Reserve? No longer would Nebraska, for instance, have to kowtow to NYC,or LA. FREEDOM! AZ could keep out Hezbollah! No U.S. Congresspeople. JUST THINK OF THE MONEY WE CAN SAVE! BILLIONS!
Report Post »Coralchristie
Posted on September 29, 2010 at 9:01pmI’m not for mutilating sharks but I agree with Coburn…not now! Everything Congress passes these days just increases the deficit and makes things harder for middle class America. Congress needs to STOP SPENDING!!!
Report Post »fightinggranny
Posted on September 29, 2010 at 8:59pmGo, Tom, Go! Sneaking in bills the last couple of days before election, fine way to conduct
Report Post »business. ANYWAY you stop the LAME DUCK will be fine with me. They can swim with
the sharks (D’s) for all I care.
broker0101
Posted on September 29, 2010 at 8:59pmAfter all, Senators are experts on literally every topic. Please tell us more about sharks, Senators…….
Report Post »Psychosis
Posted on September 29, 2010 at 9:22pmdont forget about the senator who thought a military base would capsize an island lol
Report Post »Dustyluv
Posted on September 29, 2010 at 8:57pmYea…we need to skin the lawyers errrrrrrrrr sharks. Say bye bye Harry…
Report Post »fightinggranny
Posted on September 29, 2010 at 8:56pmGo, Tom, Go! SNEAKING in bills these next few days is what the DEMS DO. We don’t need
Report Post »them. ANYWAY to block the LAME DUCK session, do it! FIGHT ON!
FreedomOfSpeech
Posted on September 29, 2010 at 8:56pmI can‘t stand Reid but I’m with him on this one. I don’t like these people who saw off shark fins and throw them back. I’m no tree hugger but it seems unfair. I think these dudes should have to fight the shark. Dude wins, he gets the fin. Shark wins, he gets a leg.
Report Post »BoatFix
Posted on September 29, 2010 at 9:08pmShark fin fishing is already illegal for U.S. It is an issue for other countries not us.
Report Post »There will always be poachers.
Let’s fix the BIG PROBLEMS.
LLATPOH
Posted on September 29, 2010 at 9:10pmI like the idea of man vs. shark. I’m all about market competition. You get the “cool idea” sticker from me. :)
While I would side with the sharks on this one, it’s definitely not a high-priority item. Why is it that they can’t find time to extend the Bush tax cuts that could help millions of people, but they can ram 5 bills through that may (or may not) help a couple hundred sharks?
I’ll be skipping to the voting booths this November for junk like this. And believe me, *no one* wants to see me skip. :)
Report Post »FreedomOfSpeech
Posted on September 29, 2010 at 9:18pmTrue, there are much bigger issues. I think the people who voted not to put off the vote on extending the tax cuts essentially voted for economic disaster. So many of these Washington jerks care more about keeping their power than doing what is best for the country. It’s very sad.
Report Post »baldwin4freedom
Posted on September 29, 2010 at 9:53pmBOATFIX is exactly right!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Report Post »Sicboy
Posted on September 29, 2010 at 8:54pmWe need to help the sharks, birds, great cats and all the other animals. The American people don’t need help. Screw you, says Reid.
Report Post »Skwerl E. Muckenfutch
Posted on September 30, 2010 at 1:38pmTo clarify- we don‘t need their kind of ’help’- the kind that costs a fortune, kills liberty, jobs, opportunity etc.
Report Post »patriot4ever
Posted on September 29, 2010 at 8:52pmShark soup? Where can I get some, sound delicious!
Report Post »BRAWNDO1958
Posted on September 29, 2010 at 9:01pmTom Coburn. Wasn’t he that guy in those “Flint” movies? Or was that his dad?
Report Post »megansmom
Posted on September 29, 2010 at 9:05pmAnd can I get a pair of shark skin boots to go with that soup?
Report Post »Ellie
Posted on September 29, 2010 at 9:19pmGood for Coburn, there needs to be objection to every one of these B.S. bills – keep the Senate stalled until the new members are seated in Jan.
Report Post »staythecourse
Posted on September 29, 2010 at 11:45pmGood for you Coburn. Keep things focused. Good objections…good comments.
Report Post »henryclay
Posted on September 30, 2010 at 1:03amThis is what we need…Senators who will stand up and call out this idiot….Reid has to go…
Tom Coburn reminded me today why I’m honored to be a Okie…Thank you Coburn…
Report Post »PostProgressiveAmerican
Posted on September 30, 2010 at 5:49amShark Fin Soup is very tasty. Kind of a cross between baby seal and Spotted Owl…
I agree that this is just an attempt by the Democrats to curry favor from one of their special interest groups: the eco-fascists. And by the way, aren’t most of these guys (Congressmen) lawyers? Doesn’t the EPA and other agencies employ lawyers, too? How could a piece of legislation designed to protect a species get through that has a ‘loophole’ allowing dismemberment of the species it is written to protect? They obviously fail as lawyers…maybe that’s why they are in politics? (and they fail at politics, too).
Coburn is right – we have bigger issues to address and these attempt to curry favor from special interest groups and divert attention from the bigger issues need to stop.
Frank
Posted on September 30, 2010 at 2:09pmSOUP – UMMMM. How about a whale meat sandwich, oh boy!
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