Tom Coburn Writing Own Budget Proposal (After Leaving the Gang of Six)

Roll Call ^ | 05/20/2011 | Steven Dennis

[SeekAndFind]

Call it the party of one?

After taking a “sabbatical” from the “gang of six” talks on deficit reduction, Sen. Tom Coburn is writing his own budget blueprint that will aggressively tackle entitlements.

“I’m working hard on my plan,” the Oklahoma Republican said Thursday, adding that he and his staff have been working on it for about six days — before he walked out on the bipartisan group of Senators.

“I want everybody to shoot at it and tell me why it won’t work,” Coburn said.

He added that he wouldn’t be concerned if others join the gang of six in his absence, provided that the debt problem is addressed.

“Any way we solve this problem is fine with me,” Coburn said. But, he added, “you’ve got to touch Medicare, you’ve got to touch Medicaid. ... It’s a [test] for sanity. Do you think Medicare’s gonna be providing exactly what it’s providing today five years from now? If you think that, I think you need to be evaluated by a psychiatrist. Because there’s no way we have the money to do that. No way.

“So, to deny what’s actually gonna happen ... is being untruthful with the American people,” he said. “That’s why it’s so important for the president to get out and say these are real problems, we need to bring people together to solve them.”

Coburn said he intends to include a revenue component in his plan. “Revenues have to be part of any solution, because you’re never going to get anything passed unless you have revenues, right? So there’ll be revenues in it,” he added.

[Buckeye McFrog]

based on his statements of the past 72 hrs., it is sure to contain tax increases

[Sonny M]

bump.

[twister881]

For some reason, Coburn has flipped his lid. Now he believes even higher taxes on income-generators is necessary to “save” the economny. Idiot.

[MontaniSemperLiberi]

“Do you think Medicare’s gonna be providing exactly what it’s providing today five years from now? If you think that, I think you need to be evaluated by a psychiatrist. Because there’s no way we have the money to do that. No way.”

Sanity.

Paul Ryan deserves a kick in the backside for giving the impression to Conservatives that we can “Save” SS and Medicare for those retired and about to retire. He’s not a Conservative. He’s a Republican.

To balance the budget next years we must cut SS, Medicare, Medicaid and Defense by 30% and take a 50% cut everywhere else. And. And it’s only going to get worse year after year as more people retire and less are working.

We can’t wait on Ryan’s budget which balances 25 years from now.

There have been two detailed Conservative proposals to balance the budget in less than seven years. One by Rand Paul and another by the Republican Study Group lead by Jim Jordan. If Ryan’s was a serious plan, Conservatives who know the numbers would not feel the need to offer alternatives.