GOP fiscal hawk sounds alarm on 'out of control' federal spending, saying 'both parties have failed us'
With the U.S. national debt soaring above $40 trillion and the federal government engaging in massive deficit spending, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. — a fiscal hawk who says the situation is "out of control" and "both parties have failed us" — does not support President Donald Trump's proposal to dole out $5,000 to every American adult if Republicans win both chambers of Congress during the midterms.
The president floated the idea during a speech earlier this month at the Republican midterm convention in Dallas, Texas, calling it "the Trump dividend."
Asked about the president's proposal during an interview on Thursday, Paul told Fox News Digital that he is not in favor of giving away "dividends when there's a deficit."
"We're running $2 trillion dollars short," he said, noting that he "can't imagine giving out money when you're running a deficit."
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment on Friday.
America's soaring national debt has surpassed the staggering sum of $40 trillion and shows no signs of stopping.
"And so, the debt is very important. So it's not just important that it might bankrupt us or overwhelm us in some kinda crisis in the future," Paul said, acknowledging that as "a possibility. But every day you're being hurt by it because it's stealing the value" of people's earnings, he indicated.
"So it is literally out of control," Paul said. "And really both parties have failed us because both parties are afraid to tell the American public that some things they like from government would have to be reduced when we cut costs."
Paul has a plan that he says would balance the budget through a series of spending cuts over five years.
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"Now when I first introduced it, it was a 1% cut, or a one-penny plan, and you cut spending 1% a year for five years, and with economic growth increasing revenue, the lines cross at about five years," balancing the budget, he explained. "Well, when COVID came along, both parties frankly started passin' out money like drunken sailors and... the deficit ballooned. Now to balance the budget in five years it's called the six-penny plan cuz it takes about a 6% cut. But it still shows you that we wouldn't have to eliminate everything."
While the cuts under his proposal would not apply to Social Security, they would apply to Medicare, he indicated, though he suggested it could be possible "to cut Medicare 6% without cutting any health benefits," saying that he thinks there is a lot of "waste and fraud in" the program. He also suggested that additional means testing could be used to achieve the Medicare spending cuts.
Paul — who ran for president in 2016 but dropped out after placing fifth in the Iowa GOP presidential caucuses — is considering throwing his hat into the ring again.
"I'd say we're 50-50," he said. "I do think that there should be a candidate on the Republican side, at least, who believes that international trade is good for our country and good for the economy, that believes in free markets, that isn't a big believer in big government coming in and managing contracts and owning parts of countries, that isn't a believer in giving out money we don't have."
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Paul said he does not "want there to be a choice of four populists running for president," noting that he wants there to be "at least one free-market candidate. I could be that, or maybe somebody else could be," he said, indicating that he will decide after the midterm elections.