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Debt Showdown

Oklahoma Senator Coburn on the senate floor.
U.S. Senate

By AP

Oklahoma City, OK – Both of Oklahoma's U.S. senators voted against federal legislation to increase the nation's debt ceiling because they say the budget cuts included in the measure don't go far enough.

U.S. Sens. Tom Coburn and Jim Inhofe both voted against the bill Tuesday as it passed the Senate on 74-26 vote. The bill passed the House on Monday and is expected to be quickly signed by President Obama to avoid a first-ever government default.

Meanwhile, local activists with the liberal MoveOn.org planned to protest Tuesday outside Inhofe's Oklahoma City office against the deal. The group says it fails to protect the middle class at the expense of tax breaks for "millionaires, billionaires, and our nation's most profitable corporations."

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.

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