coburn is a physician by training and practice up until this year, a businessman by background. he was elected to the senate in 2004 after three terms in the house of representatives. he currently serves with distinction as a member of the senate committees on the judiciary where he's the only nonlawyer, on homeland security and government affairs and on finance. and in response to the current medicare crisis, the senator has introduced the seniors choice act, which aims to reduce costs through a variety of means, including competitive bidding for benefits and increasing cost sharing by wealthy americans. the senator will speak briefly. he has then graciously agreed to take questions after his remarks and you can follow us on twitter and tweet live at hudson institute using the hash tag seniors choice. he's agreed to take questions from the audience here and at home. without furst adieu, i introduce senator tom coburn and turn the podium over to him. [ applause ] >> well, good morning. we probably don't have anything in front of our nation that is more critical both for our nati

coburn: thank you. the c.b.o. just announced this morning that february was the largest deficit in the history of this country. we have run $690 billion worth of deficits through the first four and a half months of this fiscal year. we will have a $1.6 trillion deficit. this amendment that the senate has voted on before -- it passed with 64 votes the last time it was voted on, and it's a very simple, straightforward amendment. but before i get into the details of the amendment, we need a highway bill. everybody agrees with that. this is the senate of the united states, and the right to offer amendments has been secured finally after two weeks of negotiation. where are we as a country? i think it's interesting to look back fiscal years 2011 and 2001. in 2001, the total bill for the federal government was $1.86 trillion. it is now $3.6 trillion, almost $3.61 trillion. in 2001, we had a surplus. now we have a $1.3 trillion to $1.6 trillion deficit coming this year. i think the american people would like to see us do

oklahomaasenator tom coburn lined up behind rrmney today too because he says he's served with the other candidatee and too often they've - quote - diiplayed political expediency rather cantor and coburn have ácompanyá n congress when it &pcomes to backing romney. 16 u-s senators ncluding 2008 nominee john mccain have done the same. the only other candidate with any support there is conggessman paul, whoois backed by his son, kentucky senator rand paul. over in he house, 67 members have endorsed mitt. gingrich has one-sixth as many. santorum and paul combined only have half aa dozen. at the state level, new jersey's chris christie is one of the ten goverrors supporting romney. gingrich has texas govvrnor rick perry on his side. but áromnnyá is also leaaing theeppck with the presidents. he's got one.. former president george h-w bush. cindy crawford s also in his corner. gingrich boosts odd palin and chuck norris. santorum's got iowa'' secretary of state and the ddggar family, which might help in the popular vote. and ron paul has former governnr jesse ventura and snoop dogg. doocy says:

here's republican senator tom coburn. >> my name is blair. i'm an economic development consultant here in washington and also a member of the no label citizens movement. i appreciate your remarks senator and emphasis on the importance of the budget. informed decision-making choice, accountability and the importance of a robust representative government. and i think those of us in no labels feel particularly that not only are some of our systems broken as you've alluded to some of the problems with medicare, but congress is broken now too and not really -- we wish that members of congress were all about the importance of the budget and informed decision make accountability and representative government and i wonder if you could share with us your thoughts. you've seen how sausage is made there on capitol hill and we as taxpayers certainly have some skin in the game not only on what happens to medicare but many other important issues. what can we do and that could help fix congress so that some of these same principles you've talked about today

how do you react to the economic issues that i and senator coburn are raising? >> well, i think you raise -- senator coburn raised some very good points about cost. we've got to address what you and he have to acknowledge, however, is that if we do nothing, if we stay with the status quo, if we don't have the pieces in place afforded us under the affordable care act, we aren't going to be able to deal with these problems in a meaningful way. i do disagree with the senator's characterization of the bill. we're going to have payment reform. we're going to have substantial delivery reform. we're going to try to find ways with which to ensure that we create greater efficiency through far greater transparency, far more coordination, far more effort on prevention, something that he knows a lot about. and all of those things are incorporated here in a way that will allow us, according to cbo, to provide a trillion in savings over a 20-year period of time. >> here's the question to that. what do you know that the government does effectively and efficiently now that you'

the and both men are feisty conservatives and in coburn's, one of the most conservative u.s. senators in washington and comes from a state that is rural and conservative and he has washington insider status as a consequence of being a senator. in the case of eric cantor, he is a house republican leader and one of the most partisan and feisty and often criticized or complimented for being to the right of the house speaker john boyehneboehn and some have been suspicious of mitt romney's conservativism and maybe behind him. >> harris: with all that said, carl, where does it leave newt gingrich and rick santorum. >> newt gingrich is strong in georgia, where he began his political career and a double digit comfortable lead and rick santorum strong in oklahoma and they're all going to get delegates, but in the the case of gingrich versus santorum, both men are shadow boxing and wishing almost not saying they want the other guy to drop out. >> michigan we'd have won easily had those two votes been combined, but, you know, that's, that's a process, i think, newt's it got to figure ou

senator coburn, let me come back to this. one of the albatrosses around governor romney is, of course, romney care in massachusetts. do you think it would be a good thing, advisable for romney, to come out with a detailed plan how he would replace obama care? in other words, to get out from under romney care in massachusetts would it be better for mr. romney to say here's how i'm going to do away with obama care? would that quell some of his conservative opposition and critics? >> well, i think you can do that, and i would be happy to help him do that. we have multiple plans and ideas, but, larry, would i remind you of one thing. we have the tenth amendment of the constitution, which says governor romney didn't do romney care. the state did romney care. he either signed it or didn't sign it. the fact is that the states have the right to do that. that's something totally different than the federal government mandating what states will do. >> would it be better to go -- just last few seconds, sir. i'm sorry we're tight for time

senator coburn, what have you found?> well the cbo has found and the mckenzie study has found somewhere 50% of the people are not going to be able to keep their health care plan. and that is simply because a lot of the employers will drop their health care plan and force you into an exchange, simply because it economics sense to do that. the other thing is with the rising cost, the taxes on insurance, the taxes on medical devices, what we're going to see, even though they have a minimum medical loss ratio to the insurance company the prices for insurance is going to go up. so if you're in the individual market you will lose the ability to purchase that because of the pricing. >> senator barrasso, what we've been told though is that there would initially be some increases in the cost of health care but that once the whole plan kicks in and co-ops kick in and everybody has insurance, overall, over time, the president has said those prices will start to come down. they say they have evidence to prove that. >> well, that is

off to become a senator, tom coburn was in the gang of six. i have always found him, to be very honest, straightforward, he has a good relationship with barack obama and has always tried to be honest and work on the deficit and cares a lot about deficit reduction they he is not running for reelection. he has announced that. >> host: of freedom comes from the sense he is retired. >> he is freed to do and say what he once in the republican party cannot do anything to him. >> host: skip ahead to the solutions. they are hard to come by. the chapter is brief but i don't blame you it is hard to figure out. two categories of solutions. thinking of the deadlock system is a third-party presidential candidacy from the center you devote some time to that. is that the solution? could such a person when? >> lazard two separate questions spin 98 expend their energies? >> i will say we will hear more of the intended challenge as it gets going. group preissing $20 million, on the ballot in all 50 states to collect signatures without a candidate. it is alphabe

but keep the rest of the bill intact. >> we have tom coburn standing by.bout that. >> oh, good. >> yesterday's argument focused largely on whether the rest of the law could actually survive if the government requirement that americans buy medical insurance is ruled unconstitutional. and we'll just maybe play one sound bite to show what happened, because judge antonin scalia suggested without the mandate, there's really nothing left to stand on. >> once you cut the guts out of it, who knows which ones were really desired by congress on their own and which weren't? my approach would be if you take the heart out of the statute out, the statute is gone. what happened to the eighth amendment? you really want us to go through these 2,700 pages, and do you really expect the court to do that? or do you expect us to give this function to our law clerks? is this not totally unrealistic that we're going to go through this enormous bill, item by item, and decide each one? >> with us from capitol hill now, our friend, republican senator from oklahoma, senator tom cobur

coburn's a u.s. senator. kantor is a member of the house republican leadership.known to be feisty partisan conservatives. for them to be endorsing mitt romney is to many, a sign that those who have been most skeptical for ideological reasons and the fact that mitt romney was a moderate republican until five years ago and distrusted him, may coalesce around him, if he continues this win streak. >> heather: all right. we'll see what happens. you will be on top of it, carl cameron, thank you. fox news is your number-1 source for election news. tune in on super tuesday, march 6 for special prime time coverage, beginning at 6:00 p.m. eastern right here. >> gregg: turning oversea, vladimir putin claiming victory in russia's presidential election. the long-time leader voting earlier and then he took the time to thank thousands of his supporters in a rally outside the kremlin in moscow, saying they have prevented plots aimed at destroying rushia. the exit polls show putin winning about 59% of the vote. his re-election bid has been met with accusations ofwide sfread fraud

coburn who will speak in a moment. but the point is that this is increasing costs to all of us in various ways, and the budget deficit is already at record levels, a $15 trillion debt. our company is obviously awash in red ink. one of the reasons is, of course, higher health care costs. so this is impacting us in a lot of different ways. let me address your question more directly, though, and that's in terms of the impact on businesses. i will tell you, i visited over 100 factories in ohio in the last few years. every one i ask this question what's going on with taxes and regulations and energy and health care. i have not been to a business yet that hasn't told me that their health care cost increases over the past couple of years have added to the uncertainty, the unpredictability and therefore the lack of investment into jobs and growth. i went to a factory in cleveland, ohio, one day. this is a relatively small business. it's actually seeing its sales increase a little bit. the owner said rob, you know, i'd like to

chairman paul ryan, tom coburn, democratic senator michael bennett will be here to give you details about the budget. this is an incredible opportunity for the american people to challenge their elected officials. elected officials. stay tuned living with the pain of moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis... could mean living th joint damage. help stop the damage before it stops you with humira. for many adults with moderate to severe ra, humira's proven to helrelieve pain and stop joint damage. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal events can occur, such as infections, lymphoma, or other types of cancer, blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. before starting humira, your doctor should test you for tb. ask your doctor if you live or have been to a region where certain fungal infections are common. tell your doctor if you have had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have symptoms such as fever, fatigue, cough, or sores. you should not start humira if y

>> sounds like a dumb law. >> justice kagan pointing out to senator coburn precisely why the broccolis silly because it's hard to imagine congress passing the amendment. and it worked its way to the popular venacular, if it can force you to buy insurance, what can it do and lo and behold was the supreme court. >> so you define the market as food, therefore everybody is in the market and therefore you can make people buy broccoli. >> it wasn't just brock col i. it was the length in pages, the idea something so long is terrible and horrible has been one of mitt romney's favorite tropes this campaign season. >> this obama plan is a 2,700 page massive tax increase medicaid cutting monster. it's 2,000 page bill that takes over health care for all american people. >> this is 2,700 pages, a lot i don't agree with. if i'm president of the united states, i will repeal obama-care. >> 2700 pages. obviously, it must be terrible to be so long. straight from republican debate stage to the united states supreme court. >> you really want us to go through these 2,700 pages? [ laughter ] >> and do you

senator tom coburn today coming out and endorsing mitt romney.ay do you think that will have with voters there? >> it matters not so much in oklahoma as it does nationally and in washington. today the endorsement of senator tom coburn one of the rock ribbed and uncompromising conservatives in the senate means a lot. and it is bicameral. the endorsement of eric cantor. a staunch conservative in the house and a staunch conservative in the senate means a lot to mitt romney who has got a problem with doubts in the republican establishment whether or not he can be a reliable conservative to have their endorsements matter. romney has momentum coming out of michigan and washington state. there is a little bit. the thing that troubles santorum and newt gingrich the most is that mitt romney has an established four-year-old organization across the country from his run in '08. that experience, that satisfactory and that knowledge of what needs to be done like getting on the provisional ballot in places like, ohio, for the delegate count really matters and a

tom coburn shares his thoughts on this case with cbs this morning. later today our bruce leshan will be back inside the courtroom to hear the arguments. you can see his reports live on 5:00 and follow us on twitter or go to our website wusa9.com on your computer or startphone. >>> -- smartphone. >>> the woman accused of shooting a gay man at an ihop in northwest d.c. heads to court hurs. the 27-year-old is charged in the crime. a 31-year-old gay man was shot. he is now recovering. the march 11 incident is being reviewed as a possible hate crime. >> in the beginning of the whole incident before this incident happened, there was some epitaphs that were used by people involved in this group. all of those things will be considered going forward as to whether they fall under the enhanced penalty for the statute. >> the woman is charged with aggravated assault while armed. >>> the maryland senate is willing to roll the dice on expanding gambling in the free state. they pushed the idea toward a vote sometime in the spring and it would allow prince george's

chairman paul ryan, tom coburn, democratic senator michael bennett will be here to give you details about the budget. this is an incredible opportunity for the american people to challenge their elected officials. stay tuned for super tuesday special. [ male announcer ] juice drink too watery? ♪ feel the power my young friend. mmm! [ male announcer ] for excellent fruit and veggie nutrition... v8 v-fusion, also refreshing plus tea. could've had a v8. the new spark card from capital one. spark miles gives me the most rewards of any small business credit card. the spark card earns double miles... so we really had to up our game. with spark, the boss earns double miles on every rchase, every day. that's setting the bar pretty high. owning my own business has never been more rewarding. coming through! [ male announcer ] introducing spark the small business credit cards from capital one. get more by choosing unlimited double miles or 2% cash back on every purchase, every day. what's in your wallet? or 2% cash back on every purchase, every day. kiss those lines goodbye! discover juvÉderm® xc, t

tom coburn was in the gang of six and i think, i have always found him a republican. you asked for a republican. i've always found him to be very honest, very straightforward and worked in the gang of six. i think he has a good relationship with barack obama. i think he respects him and i think he has always tried to be honest and work on the deficit and cares a lot about deficit reduction. he is not running for re-election. he has announced that he is not running for election. >> host: some of this has come from the sense that he is retired. >> guest: that's right so he is free to say and do what he wants. the republican party can't do anything about it. >> host: let's skip ahead a little bit and talk about solutions. they are hard to come by. i will be honest with you, it's a little brief but i don't blame you because it's hard to figure out what they have to do about this. let me talk about two categories of solutions. the first one that occurs to most people when they think about are deadlocked system is they think about a third party presidential candidacy from t

tom coburn threw their support behind him.his as today's nbc news "wall street journal" poll has romney leading doesn't look like much, but it's very consistent. 38% over 32% over santorum. paul and gingrich at the bottom at 13% at this point. the money has long been on romney when you look at the capital markets and their views and how they express them. then at the bottom of that chain, you look at intrade where people can put their money behind their opinion. they have had mitt romney's chances of being the nominee 80 to 90% for months. let's bring in the mega panel. imogen lloyd webber, tim carney, and mr. cedar. he will be the nominee according to the math. and there's a lot of denial about the fact that that's what's going on. this is a very close race. but it's a consistently close race that breaks towards romney all the time. >> two things we have been waiting for. can romney break above 50%. he hasn't really done that. if newt drops out, santorum could beat him. but ron paul is not going away. that's not as relevant.

and tom coburn. >> i look to super tuesday, i look to mitt romney winning all of virginia's delegates and, in fact, i cast my vote already in virginia for mitt romney, and i'm here today to tell you that i'm endorsing mitt romney in his candidacy for the presidency of the united states. >> senator coburn endorsed romney today in an op-ed piece in the oklahoman. romney is also celebrating a victory in washington state. he won that state's gop caucuses yesterday, capturing 38% of the vote. ron paul finished second with 25% inching ahead of rick santorum who got 24%. and newt gingrich finished last with 10%. >>> romney is also gaining momentum in the key super tuesday state of ohio. cnn political reporter peter m hamby is live for us. >> reporter: republicans here and the romney campaign is quietly confident that the momentum is trending in romney's direction. take a look at a new nbc news/marist poll showing rick santorum with 34% of the vote and mitt romney with 32% of the vote, essentially a tie. what is important here, this is why republicans think romney will win, he has the momentu

. >> and tom coburn. >> coburn. >> so now republicans have basically three choices. they can vote for a guy that basically drafted obama care, something that they have campaigned against for three years, a guy that wants to debate about contraceptives, or newt gingrich who is newt gingrich. and that's all i've got to say. and then there's ron paul who maybe should just run as an independent. >> and doesn't want to help hurricane victims. >> don't want to help hurricane victims. >> can we just turn the lights off? it's over. >> you know what -- >> let's go to barbados for a year. >> the -- >> i can't believe that republicans are left with these choices. >> it's going to be okay. someone will emerge somehow. don't worry. >> the white knight scenario is over. do we agree on that? the white knight's not coming. >> i guess. >> it's over. didn't we decide that after michigan? >> i don't know. this individual mandate stuff is such a killer. >> so then it's a question we've talked about a lot. will republicans swallow the pill in saying mitt romney, i don't like mitt romney

there is a gao report that senator tom coburn commissioned that is scandalous, the waste. is there any way that it's reflected in your budget? where this money is and how we pick it up? >> we cite that gao report and the coburn studies in our budget and put the savings in the budget by going after cutting discretionary spenning and we fund accounts, meaning to go after that. we fund what we call program integrity. we fund more auditors to dig up the waste to get that spending cut. >> greta: last night, there was a vote on the budget -- >> zero. >> greta: but do you agree it was a stunt? >> they said let's have a vote. we took the cbo, the congressional budget office says, here's the budget and the numbers. we put it in the bill, brought it to the floor and nobody voted for it. >> greta: how much politics. >> we wanted to see if people will support the budget. >> greta: you knew they wouldn't? >> no. i thought the democrats might support it. >> greta: so that wasn't a stunt? >> it was to show the contrast. if the senate's not going to give a budget, let's get a vote on the

coburn: i ask that we have unanimous consent to have a colloquy among us. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. coburn: i listened very intently to the first two speakers this morning, and i have -- as somebody who has now been a physician for almost 30 years, practiced full time for over 25 years, i heard the senator from iowa in what his desire would be in the chart that he showed. he showed 100% screening occurring now in three areas. i want to tell you, that isn't true. we're not screening. we hope to screen and we hope to screen 100%, but the facts are on screening that was available is only used 5% by medicare patients on the screening that was already available with no cost to medicare patients. so we have to distinguish between what we desire and what's actually going to happen. but let's just take the example of colon screening. i'm a colon cancer survivor. i was diagnosed through colonoscopy with colon cancer. but let's take that example and then let's take the example of the other aspect of the affordable care act which is called the inde

coburn: i ask that we have unanimous consent to have a colloquy among us. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. coburn: i listened very intently to the first two speakers this morning, and i have -- as somebody who has now been a physician for almost 30 years, practiced full time for over 25 years, i heard the senator from iowa in what his desire would be in the chart that he showed. he showed 100% screening occurring now in three areas. i want to tell you, that isn't true. we're not screening. we hope to screen and we hope to screen 100%, but the facts are on screening that was available is only used 5% by medicare patients on the screening that was already available with no cost to medicare patients. so we have to distinguish between what we desire and what's actually going to happen. but let's just take the example of colon screening. i'm a colon cancer survivor. i was diagnosed through colonoscopy with colon cancer. but let's take that example and then let's take the example of the other aspect of the affordable care act which is called the inde

tom coburn was in the gang of six, and i think i have always found him a republican. have always found him to be very honest, very straightforward. he worked in the gang of six. i think he has a good relationship with barack obama. i think he respects and. i think he has always tried to be honest and work on the deficit. he cares a lot about deficit reduction. he is not running for reelection next time though. he was announcing that he is not right for reelection. >> host: some of it comes from the sense that he was retiring. >> guest: that's right. and so he is free to say and do what he wants. the republican party can't do anything to him. you know. >> host: let skip ahead a little bit and talk about solutions. because they're hard to come by. i'll be honest with you, it's a little brief, but i don't really blame the because it's just hard to figure out what the heck to do about this. let me talk about two categories of solutions. the first one that occurs to most people when they think about our deadlocked system is that they think about of third-party presidential

then after that, senator tom coburn speaks at a forum about the future of medicare. then former national security advisers discuss how u.s. policy in the middle east has changed. >>> our system is fundamentally undemocratic in a number of ways. one of the ways is closed primaries. in half the states in the country, 40% of all the voters can't participate in the primaries. so, they have no say in who gets nominated. and as a result, we get more and more extreme candidates on both ends. >> saturday night on after words, linda killian writes that independent voters have decided the election since world war ii. also this weekend on book tv, david brock talks about "the fox effect." and sunday night at 10:00, mark levin and his thoughts on the current state of politics in "ameritopia." book tv every weekend on c-span 2. >>> this senate arms services committee heard testimony thursday on the president's 2013 navy budget. navy secretary ray mabus was joined by the chief of naval operations at the hearing. the navy budget request is for $155.9 billion. a decrease of $1.4 bil

went to manhattan in the fall of 2005 and the big boss of the whole group, nancy shepherd and carlin coburn in publicity. we met in a little room and i stated my case and they said, this is your first book so you need to listen to a few things here. first of all only 12 percent of nonfiction books make a profit and 2/3 are pre chosen by the publisher. we'd like to put our marketing arm behind us but your having to fight tear riz m to this. since i grew up in africa and worked pakistan for many years you never settle a deal without driving a hard bargain so i said if the hard cover doesn't do well, i'd like the subtitle changed later on for the paper back. julia and our other board relently pounded away month after month. i was in pakistan of december of 2006 and there was a new editor on the book and they said they decided to change the title to one man's mission to promote peace. the hard cover didn't do that well. sold 20,000 copies. while the paper back came out on january 30th of this year and since out it's been on the new york times best seller selling over 700,000 copies now. and it'

coburn, i very much appreciate the idea that market forces and consumer choice can really control our health care costs and improve the system but i worry it doesn't operate like a true market not just because of government involvement but because of the imbalance in information between consumers and insurance companies primarily but also consumers and their actual care. i'm wondering if you've considered the patient's senior choice act supports tools to help seniors understand what they're choosing when they choose their health plan, not just the monthly premium which is probably the clearest thing on your paperwork but also the kind of benefits you're receiving, the care, coordination and other supports you're receiving and out-of-pocket costs you're exposing yourself to. >> i think that's a great statement and a question. we have looked at that. that's part of what this organization is going to be that's going to control this system. we have it right now we have 15 supplemental plans in medicare. we tell them what you can put out, what you have to put out. it's not any different th

coburn asked your predecessor, mr. mcswain that what the indian health service was doing to protect the patients and employees and it was a specific hospital he was familiar with, clairemore in oklahoma. they were working with local jurisdictions so law enforcement could protect patients and staff at that facility. four years later. again it was not something that you were charged with, you inherited this problem but it's four years later and there's still not really been an adequate resolution to the problem. can you maybe help address what needs done resolve this matter? >> yes. well we are aware that the issue at clairemore indian hospital is serious and needs to be resolved as soon as possible. i just recently was briefed by staff. it looks like we've been working very closely with the department of justice and the bureau of indian affairs and they have outlined some administrative and possible legislative options. and so the next step would be to decide what our priorities are for those options, and then to consul

. >> rose: and coburn voted for it. >> and dick durbin what an interesting cross-section, three republican senators voted for it so we said why did you vote against this? and i said if you voted against this package because you were afraid of grover norquist shredding you to threads i lose all respect for you. >> no we just believe if you do what you are suggesting and get rid of the tax expenditure for employer deduction, employee healthcare that employers will look around and blink like a frog in a hailstorm and go to bloat, go to bloat, bloat, obama care and erskine and i looked at him and said that is an honest answer and it was an honest answer they feared getting rid of that in the tax expenditures, that they would bloat, they would all flee and make obama care bigger than it ever was. we were getting rid of all of the tax expenditures so we could broaden the base and simplify the code and used eight opinion of the code to reduce the deficit, about $100 billion a year so that's where we got our trillion dollars over ten years to reduce th the revenue but usd 92 percent of the money t