Tom Coburn: “I thank the leadership for giving me an opportunity to talk this evening and to express some views. We heard a very good…”

“I thank the leadership for giving me an opportunity to talk this evening and to express some views. We heard a very good talk about the budget. The points I was going to make have to do with the disasters we face. It is ``disasters''--it is not one, it is two. One is slowly creeping upon us, and the other is right in front of us. The tragedy that we see on the gulf coast is something to which we have to attend, something for which we have to supply the funds. It is important that we offer aid, that we come to the aid of those people. One of the most disheartening things I have seen in the last week-and- a-half has been finger pointing by politicians at all levels of our country that benefits no one, accomplishes nothing except to prove to the American people partisanship tends to trump any issue. It is disheartening that we as a body would fall into that, when such great responsibilities are in front of us. I said ``disasters'' because the other disaster we are not looking at is the Federal budget that the Senator from Illinois discussed. I take a very different view. I am disappointed in our President for not bringing forward with this bill recommended spending cuts that would easily be achieved in the discretionary budget of this country to pay for the disaster assistance. We heard Senator Lott talk about the sacrifices of the people, both those who are involved and those who have contributed to help in this tragedy.…”