Senator Coburn’s “Radical” Alternative to Raising the Debt Limit

Stephen Keen / January 26, 2010

Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) has a radical alternative to raising the debt limit: spend less money. In an amendment introduced last week Senator Coburn proposed saving approximately $120 billion by, “consolidating more than 640 duplicative government programs, cutting wasteful Washington spending, and returning billions of dollars of unspent money.” The vast majority of the savings, $100 billion, would come from rescinding discretionary federal funding that has been unused for over two years and remains unassigned for a specific purpose. The remainder would result from the consolidation of hundreds of duplicative government programs and recessions to several government departments and agencies.

The total public debt outstanding is now $12.3 trillion, and public debt as a percentage of the economy is currently projected to exceed World War II levels. At some point Congress must say enough is enough. Debt has consequences; President Obama’s own figures see outlays for interest on the debt rising to levels greater than the all defense spending by 2018. Currently, a single month of interest payments on the national debt already exceed yearly spending on programs such as Child Nutrition, and International Assistance. (more…)