May 20 2011
News outlets examine what led to the exit of Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., from this group of negotiators and what the new outlook is for the group to have a positive impact on congressional efforts to develop long-term deficit reduction strategies.
The Wall Street Journal: The Quandary Of Coburn's Exit
The remaining members of the Gang of Six met without Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and agreed to press on in their effort to craft a long-term pact that could include controversial proposals to raise revenues and curb Social Security (Hook and Bendavid, 5/19).
Politico: Dick Durbin, Tom Coburn Clash Sparked Gang Of Six Breakup
On Monday evening in Sen. Mark Warner's office in the Russell Building, tensions finally boiled over between Majority Whip Dick Durbin and Oklahoma Republican Sen. Tom Coburn. The spat over a deficit-reduction package had been building for weeks, and Coburn had grown frustrated that the Gang of Six wouldn't get specific enough about where it would cut domestic spending — and he wanted some $130 billion more in cuts out of Medicare (Raju, 5/19).
Kaiser Health News: Coburn Exit Has Some Questioning Role Of Gang Of Six (Video)
In Wednesday's Health On The Hill, Kaiser Health News's Mary Agnes Carey talks with The Fiscal Times' Eric Pianin about the Gang of Six, negotiators seeking consensus on deficit reduction plans (5/18). Read the transcript.
 This article was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.
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