Sen. Daniel Inouye successfully led opposition to a proposal by Tom Coburn, R-Okla., to eliminate redundant government programs as a way to cut waste, according to The Hill.  

The bill would have forced $10 billion in automatic cuts if the Obama administration failed to identify duplicative programs to scrap, the newspaper reported. Inouye likened the measure to a revision of last summer’s debt-ceiling agreement, and called the $10 billion figure “arbitrary.”

“There is no methodology or specificity that verifies there are in fact $10 billion in discretionary savings to be found,” The Hill quoted Inouye as having said. 

The Coburn amendment failed to get the 60 votes it needed in the Senate on Thursday, and went down in a 52-46 vote. 

Read the full story from The Hill.