During a Tuesday interview with conservative talk show host Sandy Rios, Coburn insisted that only “stupid things” would be shut down if the the debt ceiling was not raised.

“We’re going to collect $200 billion a month if in fact the government were to not extend the debt limit,” he insisted. “Social Security would be paid, Medicare would be paid, the essentials would be paid; it’s the non-essentials that wouldn’t be paid, it’s the $250-300 billion a year in stupid things we do that we wouldn’t pay, it’s the programs that aren’t an absolute necessity that wouldn’t get funded, the things that would be a necessity would get funded.”