In a letter to all members of the Senate, Dr. Coburn stated the following:

"As we approach the end of the year, I recognize that there is often an urge for Congress to engage in a last minute spending spree, approving bills costing millions of dollars with no debate or discussion.  In the remaining hours of this session of Congress, therefore, I will not agree to any unanimous consent requests to authorize or appropriate increased spending or expand the size and cost of the federal government."

Click here to read the entire text of the letter.

Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) recently requested a study from the Congressional Research Service (CRS) on the Senate's process of clearing bills.  According to the memo, "[T]he vast majority of measures passed or agreed to by the Senate so far in the 110th Congress have not received formal parliamentary debate on the floor of the Senate.” CRS also found that "Nearly every day the Senate is in session, the majority and minority leaders consult to identify bills and resolutions that have been “cleared” by the Senators in both parties. A measure is considered cleared if no Senator has informed party leadership … that he or she is opposed to passage of the measure without debate.”

Other highlights from the CRS memo:

• 37 bills were passed by vote (35 by roll call vote, 2 by voice vote)
• 497 bills (93 percent) were passed by Unanimous Consent
  • 237 were passed by UC on the same day they were introduced
  • 217 were passed by UC without debate
  • 38 were passed by UC with some debate
  • 5 were passed by UC without debate after debate on a Senate companion bill
• 51 percent of the bills passed by UC were agreed to during the two weeks before a recess

Click here to read the entire CRS memo to Senator DeMint.