Coburn Could Block Debt Limit Increase

WASHINGTON - AUGUST 03:  U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) hold a news conference about stimulus projects at the U.S. Capitol August 3, 2010 in Washington, DC. Coburn and U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) answered questions about their new report titled, 'Summertime Blues: 100 Stimulus Projects that give Taxpayers the Blues during the Summer of Recovery.'

Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) “said Wednesday that if President Obama fails to cut spending by hundreds of billions of dollars, he may block an increase in the debt limit and risk federal insolvency,” the Daily Caller reports.

“I can give you a list of $350 billion that needs to be conceded and programs that need to be eliminated,” Coburn, an Oklahoma Republican, said in an interview. “I think you’re going to see all sorts of amendments attached to that debt limit increase.”

Coburn said that if Obama opposed spending cuts attached to such a bill “we may not have a debt limit increase.”

Asked whether that would bring the federal government to the brink of default, Coburn answered in the affirmative.

“Sure, and that’s the whole point. That’s why the leverage is there to actually make the changes that need to be made for the country,” Coburn said.

(credit image – daylife/getty)

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