Oklahomans called to pressure Coburn on Obamacare defunding

FreedomWorks is calling on Oklahomans to attend Sen. Tom Coburn's August townhall meetings to ask him to join conservative Senate Republicans in their fight to defund implementation of the Unaffordable Care Act. Here is a list of Coburn's August 2013 townhalls, which are mainly in rural eastern Oklahoma. Coburn won't be coming to Tulsa or Oklahoma City, so Tulsans and Oklahoma Citians will have to go to him to express their disappointment in his refusal to fight against Obamacare funding.

Wednesday, August 21, 2013, 2:00 pm, Miami, Miami Civic Center
Wednesday, August 21, 2013, 5:00 pm, Muskogee, Muskogee Civic Center, Room D (NOTE VENUE CHANGE)
Thursday, August 22, 2013, 8:00 am, Stigler, The Eaton Hole, 504 E. Main
Thursday, August 22, 2013, 12:00 pm, Hugo, Kiamichi Technology Center North Seminar Room
Thursday, August 22, 2013, 2:30 pm, Atoka, Kiamichi Technology Center Business Center
Monday, August 26, 2013, 5:30 pm, Shawnee, Gordon Cooper Tech Center, John Bruton Seminar Center

Here's the letter from Matt Kibbe, head of FreedomWorks.

Tom Coburn says ObamaCare is not the solution to health care reform. But he hasn't joined with Mike Lee to Defund ObamaCare.

Sen. Coburn is having townhall meetings so you can ask him why he isn't doing everything he can to protect Oklahoma from ObamaCare.

Harry Reid called ObamaCare the stepping stone to European-style health care. Now is the time for Tom Coburn to listen to concerned citizens like you and stand with Mike Lee to Defund ObamaCare.

Tom Coburn has been a principled fighter for economic liberty in the Senate. We need him to join with Mike Lee, Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, and Marco Rubio and not give one dime of your tax dollars to pay for ObamaCare.

Sen. Coburn needs to know that patriots like you don't want ObamaCare and that he should do everything he can to stop it.

In Liberty,

Matt Kibbe
President and CEO, FreedomWorks

MORE:

At Townhall, Kate Andrews provides three real-life examples of how Obamacare has driven up costs for the sick, disabled, and poor.

The Heritage Foundation says that Coburn is wrong to claim that Congress can't defund mandatory spending. They do it all the time.

Heritage explains defunding:

Defunding Obamacare means attaching a legislative rider to a "must-pass" spending bill, like the continuing resolution or the debt limit, that:

• Prohibits any funds from being spent on any activities to implement or enforce Obamacare;
• Cancels any unspent balances that have already been appropriated for implementation; and
• Turns off the exchange subsidies and new Medicaid spending that are currently on auto-pilot.

Defunding stops the flow of money to Obamacare, including implementing the law and all of its related activities.

A recent successful example of defunding that comes to mind is the incandescent light bulb ban. In December 2011, the same Republican majority in the House, Democrat majority in the Senate, and Democrat in the White House approved omnibus spending legislation that banned spending any money on enforcement of the ban. As with Obamacare, the ban was unpopular and costly federal overreach, but with Obamacare, businesses, labor unions, state and local governments, and individuals are even more concerned about the costs of compliance.

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Mickey Kaus notes that Republican congressmen aren't holding as many townhalls; he believes it's because they're afraid to face their conservative constituents over issues like amnesty for illegal immigrants.