On Wednesday's CBS This Morning, open Obama supporter Gayle King strongly hinted to Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn that he would face voter backlash for seeking cuts in the federal budget to pay for tornado disaster relief: "You voted against relief plans for Hurricane Sandy, and it sounds that you would do the same if it was raised in Oklahoma. Do you worry about alienating your constituents?"
The Republican politician shot back that he didn't want the next generation to foot the bill for the recovery from the EF-5 tornado that devastated Moore, Oklahoma on Monday, and then strongly criticized the multi-billion dollar Hurricane Sandy relief package audio available here; video below the jump]:
SEN. TOM COBURN, (R), OKLAHOMA: Look, my constituents...don't want us to charge our everyday living expenses to their kids....why should we saddle them when we're wasting money? The Hurricane Sandy bill – look, I voted for the first section of that that came through the first time. Then, we added another $60 billion...It became a Christmas tree, and everybody added everything in the world. If you actually go look at that bill, the $20 billion that's actually necessary for the Sandy expenses and rebuilding in Sandy was there. We added $40 billion on top of it, and then charged it to our kids....it's just not an appropriate way to run the future for our children.
King then replied, "Some say they need to come up with another bill that's not tied to budget cuts, but I know that that's another topic."
The transcript of the relevant portion of the interview of Senator Tom Coburn on Wednesday's CBS This Morning can be read at MRC.org.
