WASHINGTON — A top Republican senator in the bipartisan “Gang of Six” seeking agreement on a plan to cut the deficit by $4 trillion over the next decade dropped out of the group Tuesday, saying that his colleagues weren’t willing to cut enough from benefit programs such as Medicare.
Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma said he doesn’t see how the group can reach agreement and that he would stop participating in its discussions.
“It’s got to be balanced. And I didn’t perceive where we were was balanced,” Coburn said.
The group will continue to meet without Coburn, several members said. But it’s plain that major obstacles remain.
One of the reasons the Gang of Six was noteworthy was that its GOP members — Coburn, Saxby Chambliss of Georgia and Mike Crapo of Idaho — were willing to agree to revenue increases of about $1 trillion over the coming decade as the price for getting Democrats to accept cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.
“The only way we get out of this problem is increasing revenues,” Coburn said.
The group’s plan was expected to closely track President Barack Obama’s debt commission’s plan for $3 in spending cuts for every $1 in tax revenue increases over the coming decade.
But Senate leaders in both parties were always cool to the effort, and Republicans controlling the House have said all along that they would never consider tax increases.
