September 25, 2024
Dr. Rand Paul Forces Vote on Six Penny Plan to Balance the Federal Budget in Five Years
Senate Votes 39-56 on Dr. Paul’s Six Penny Plan
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) forced the Senate to vote on his “Six Penny Plan” federal budget that will balance within five years. Dr. Paul spoke on the Senate floor ahead of the vote, below are excerpts from his remarks.
“This year, the United States will spend over $6 trillion while only bringing in $4 trillion in revenue. That’s a profound gap, $2 trillion will be borrowed this year. To add insult to injury, Congress spends like drunken sailors without even bothering to pass a budget…In fact, over the past 20 years, Congress has passed a budget less than half the time. So, today, I will attempt to do what both parties have failed to do and that is pass a budget…The Penny Plan that I offer today will balance the budget in 5 years.
“Americans will pay dearly for Congress’s insatiable appetite for more and more spending. The high level of spending that is currently crushing the American family is just the beginning. If we continue down this unsustainable path, American families will be forced to deal with even higher inflation, confiscatory tax rates, rising interest rates, and a weak economy. It will be harder to find a job and provide for a family because the deals made in the halls of Congress always stick the taxpayers with the bill.
“As interest payments on the national debt crowd out the rest of the government’s budget, tax increases, inflation, and an eventual default on the debt are what lie ahead for the American economy. Unfortunately, a debt crisis will not just stop with our economy. A threat to our financial security is also a threat to our national security.
“Even the Biden-Harris Administration’s own Treasury has admitted that our current path is unsustainable. The math is clear, and I urge my colleagues: do not get in an argument with math. You will lose.
“Our current trajectory weakens our national security and drains productivity from our economy. History will remember those who had the courage to make the hard choices now and who chose to leave their children with less of the burden. For just six pennies on the dollar, we can reverse this dismal trajectory. In just five years, we can restore trust in the U.S. dollar, the U.S. economy, and walk the U.S. government off the fiscal cliff. Vote yes on this plan, vote yes on restoring fiscal sanity, vote yes on securing a future for our country.”
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Background:
The Six Penny Plan is a federal budget resolution that will balance on-budget outlays and revenues within five years by cutting six pennies off every dollar projected to be spent in the next five fiscal years. This plan is the most recent in a series of plans that Dr. Paul has introduced to address an ever-worsening budget crisis:
In the 100 days between CBO’s February and June budget baselines, the federal government added an additional $540 billion to the national debt (an additional $1,600 per U.S. citizen).
CBO’s June estimates increased projected deficits by $2.5 trillion over CBO’s February estimates.
Interest payments on the debt account for more spending than our entire defense budget.
At over $35 trillion, the national debt is nearly double the amount of total bank deposits in the U.S. In other words, emptying every bank account in the U.S. would only cover half of the government’s debt.
In 2017, Dr. Paul introduced a budget that would have only required a spending freeze to balance in five years. An annual six percent cut is now required to achieve the same results. Dr. Paul’s Six Penny Plan implements these cuts while preserving congressional discretion regarding how to achieve these spending targets. This plan would:
Reduce spending by $329 billion in the first year. The plan would continue to cut six percent until balance in year five, then allows spending to rise with the pace of revenues in the five years remaining. ...
www.paul.senate.gov