Oklahoma’s Republican Sen. Tom Coburn defended his position that any aid given to his state following Monday’s deadly tornadoes should be offset by spending cuts.
“It’s the lamest excuse in the world when we have at least $200 billion worth of waste, fraud, and duplication to say ‘oh my gosh, we can’t do that,’ we have to go borrow money against the very kids you say you want to help!” the Republican senator said. “It’s morally wrong, it’s repugnant to me.”
Coburn slammed critics for questioning him on fiscal beliefs during the recovery as a “crass, political game.”
Those same critics point out that the debate over whether to offset aid packages with spending cuts delayed aid for the victims of Hurricane Sandy for 100 days, nearly emptying FEMA’s coffers.
Jane Timm