Coburn: Medicare and Social Security 'are things we don't absolutely need'

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) is encouraging Democrats to cut Social Security and Medicare benefits because the programs are "things we don't absolutely need."

Speaking to ABC's George Stephanopolous on Sunday about the so-called fiscal cliff, Coburn said that he would be willing to accept tax hikes for the top 2 percent of earners if Democrats and President Barack Obama agreed to reform Social Security and Medicare.

The ABC host pointed out that Obama's health care reform law had already achieved about $716 billion in Medicare savings and many Republicans -- including former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney -- ran against those cuts.

"The $700 billion in savings doesn't save the government a penny because what it does is takes that $700 billion and spends it on other people," Coburn insisted. "We've seen the president demand that we're going to solve 7 percent of this problem [with tax hikes on the rich] but he's totally inflexible on the other 93 percent."

"It doesn't really matter what happens at the end of this year because ultimately the numbers and the bond holders throughout the world will determine what we'll spend and what we won't. So, we can play the political game that is being played out in Washington right now or we can be absolutely honest with the American people and say, 'Medicare is going bankrupt, Social Security disability will be bankrupt in two years, Social Security trust fund will be bankrupt in five years, Social Security total will be bankrupt in 16,17 years.'"

"The fact is we are spending money we don't have on things we don't absolutely need," he concluded. "And there's no grownups in Washington that will say, 'Timeout, stop the politics, let's have a compromise rather than play the game through the press and hurt the country.' We're already going to get another debt downgrade just from what's happening now because nobody in positions of power are willing to do what's important and necessary for our country."

Watch this video from ABC's This Week, broadcast Dec. 9, 2012.