(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – U.S. Senator Tom Coburn, M.D. (R-OK) released the following statement today regarding the decision by Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-HI) to impose an earmark moratorium for the current session of Congress.

“I hope this decision will shift the Senate’s focus from earmarking to oversight and cutting spending. In some years, the Senate’s earmark requests have outnumbered oversight hearings by a factor of more than 1,000 to one. Our long-term budget challenges are so great that we cannot afford to spend time, much less taxpayer dollars, securing earmarks. I hope the rest of the Senate works with, rather than against, Chairman Inouye, President Obama and House and Senate Republicans as we turn our attention away from earmarking and toward the enormous economic challenges facing our country,” Dr. Coburn said.

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