Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, one of the GOP’s leading fiscal hawks, tells National Review Online that he is encouraged by Sen. Rand Paul’s budget proposal, which contains over $500 billion in spending cuts. “I think we could do it,” he says. “It’s entirely possible.”
For the time being, Coburn acknowledges that the plan may not be politically viable. He is also still reviewing the document. But he applauds the Kentucky freshman’s verve.
“I could give you $350 billion worth of cuts tomorrow that nobody would miss,” Coburn says. “All we’d have to do is get another $150 billion through efficiency.” Paul’s bold number, he adds, is a step toward making across-the-board cuts a reality.
“The people who hear that number, and go ‘Oh, no, no, no,’ they don’t actually know what’s going on in the government,” Coburn says. “People say ‘no,’ but it’s an uninformed ‘no.’”
Paul detailed his budget in today’s Wall Street Journal.