OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn is asking both the Republican and Democratic national committees to reject public financing for the 2012 party conventions.

In a letter sent Thursday to the heads of both committees, Coburn asks each to reject the millions of dollars in federal money that is provided through the Presidential Election Campaign Fund.

Oklahoma's junior U.S. senator from Muskogee has been a longtime critic of what he describes as excessive federal spending and an unsustainable national debt.

Coburn acknowledges the spending on party conventions is legal, but asks both committee chairs to "agree once and for all the party is over when it comes to travel and meetings paid for by the taxpayers."

Phone calls seeking comment from the Republican and Democratic national committees weren't immediately returned.