The Wall Street Journal reports that Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn was blocking a bill that would increase the flexibility of the Federal Housing Authority because the bill could "expose American taxpayers to $1.6 billion [in liabilities] over five years," and therefore should not rushed through. This sum is equal to approximately 0.01 percent of projected spending over the next five years. It is approximately equal to what the country spends every three days on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. If the number is correct (Mr. Coburn may have meant "trillion" rather than "billion"), then the potential risk from this bill does not seem especially large, as should have been pointed out to readers.
--Dean Baker
