Paul Says GOP May Not Be “Brave Enough” To Slash Federal Spending
February 7, 2011 by Personal Liberty News Desk
Freshman Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has claimed that the GOP's most recent budget proposal is insufficient, and he has questioned whether his party colleagues are "brave enough" to make deeper cuts.
During an interview with ABC News, Paul said that Representative Paul Ryan's (R-Wis.) plan — which would cut non-security spending by $58 billion by the end of the fiscal year — is "not going to touch the problem." Paul has proposed his own budget that would reduce spending by $500 billion this year and impose deep cuts across the board.
Paul said that it is more important to him to stay true to his Tea Party principles than follow the GOP leaders. His plan would cut the Department of Education budget by 83 percent and eliminate all foreign aid, and he said those proposals are just scratching the surface for future cuts.
"I go to a Tea Party [gathering] and you know what they say to me? It's not enough. It's not enough. Where's the other trillion you need?" Paul told the media outlet.
According to CNN, Democrats have also criticized Ryan's budget, but for different reasons. They accused House Republicans of not following through on their promises, referring to the party's original pledge to cut $100 billion from the budget. GOP staffers argued that Ryan's proposal does meet their original target because it represents the pro-rated amount for scaling back spending rates to 2008 levels for the remaining seven months of the fiscal year.
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