Is it really possible that our politicians have stooped to such an utter level of absurdity where it is now possible to censure a Congressman for providing free health care? If Barbara Boxer and her Senate Ethics committee are any indication, then the answer to that question is astonishingly yes. Sen. Tom Coburn’s (R-Okla.) is a licensed OB/GYN in Oklahoma who has for the last several years been delivering babies for free at the Muskogee Regional Medical Center.

Coburn has come under new pressure from the Ethics panel for delivering babies at the Muskogee Regional Medical Center, which changed from a public to a private institution in April last year after it was acquired by Capella Healthcare.

In May, Coburn received a strongly worded “final determination” memo threatening him with a Senate censure if he did not stop delivering babies for free. The letter prompted several heated meetings between Coburn and the Ethics Committee in June over the matter, according to two knowledgeable Senate sources.

This ladies and gentleman is our Congress at work. While Congressional Democrats ardently fight for government sponsored health care, they attempt to deny a fellow Congressman the right to provide free health care. Their argument over potential conflicts of interest do not pass the smell test, as this is a free service provided by a licensed physician to the general public, not a lobbying group or some other politically active entity. More likely this “final determination” is retribution for Coburn continually blocking Harry Reid’s attempts to force through billions of dollars of wasteful spending.

Jill Stanek says what everyone is thinking:

Were Tom Coburn aborting babies free instead of delivering them free, there would be no investigation; there would be an awards ceremony. This is ridiculous on so many levels, not the least of which is the Democrats’ disregard for the poor, unless they control the dole so as to get the credit.

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Congress, Dumb Dems, Features, Health Care, Politics