Senator Coburn
released a letter earlier this month to his Senate colleagues informing them of his intention to block new spending that is duplicative or not offset by cuts elsewhere in the budget.
“President Bush was wise to propose a budget to Congress that calls for fiscal restraint rather than higher taxes. Members of Congress who have been critical of the president’s budget should first acknowledge that Congress, not the president, has been entrusted with the authority to actually draft and pass a budget. Congress now has to decide which is the greater threat to our economy – under-taxation or overspending?^ Outside of Washington, D.C. there is no debate. American families are fed up with politicians in Washington who demand more of their money yet do nothing to eliminate the obscene amount of waste in our federal budget,” Dr. Coburn said, adding that, according to a December 2006 Gallup Poll, 61 percent of Americans described “Big Government” as the biggest threat to our country’s future. The next greatest threat cited by 25 percent of respondents was “big business.”
As chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management during the last Congress, Dr. Coburn discovered more than $200 billion the federal government wastes annually. For more on the subcommittee’s findings,
click here.
“Our nation can meet its obligations to our men and women serving overseas and our citizens at home by rooting out the vast amounts of waste and duplication in the federal budget. Unfortunately, time is running out. As Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke recently warned, the right time for Congress to get serious about fixing challenges like the impending bankruptcy of Social Security and Medicare was ten years ago. It is long past time for Congress to get serious about the need for restraint in the face of the demographic tsunami that will hit our economy as Baby Boomers retire. The era of hiding these challenges with Enron-style accounting must end,” Dr. Coburn said.
Senator Tom Coburn's activity on the Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, and International Security
340 Dirksen Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510
Phone: 202-224-2254 Fax: 202-228-3796
