Senator Tom Coburn: America in Debt Crisis ‘Not Because We Didn’t Agree, But Because We Did’ (+video)

Oklahoma Republican Sen. Tom Coburn turned conventional Washington wisdom on its head Sunday, telling NBC’s David Gregory that “the reason we’re in trouble on deficits and debts is not because we didn’t agree, but because we did.”

Coburn appeared on NBC’s “Meet the Press” with New York Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer to discuss the bipartisan budget deal that scuttled certain sequester cuts in exchange for spending reductions down the road. Gregory asked Coburn whether Republicans, in the wake of last week’s deal, would still demand concessions for raising the debt ceiling by next February.

Coburn opened with a subtle swipe at his own party. “I guess I can’t really speak for Republicans,” he claimed. “My thoughts are, the American people don’t believe we have a debt ceiling because we always increase it, and they don’t believe we have the discipline in Washington.”

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