…. by 17 GOP Senators who shamefully do not have a plan of their own to deal with this national security issue.
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With Plenty Of GOP Help, Senate Shoots Down Rand Paul’s Balanced-Budget Resolution
ZeroHedge, Jun 17, 2023 – Excerpts:
Every few years, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul puts forth a quixotic proposal to balance the federal budget. It’s not the financial math that makes it a daunting task, but rather Washington’s bipartisan addiction to spending.
It predictably fails each time, but accomplishes two things in the process. First, it puts senators who’ve espoused fiscal discipline on the record as opposing it when the rubber meets the road. Second, over time, Paul’s proposals illustrate the insidious effect of kicking the can down the road—as each new proposal requires bigger cuts to push Uncle Sam to breakeven.
Paul’s first such budget resolution, in 2011, didn’t even cut spending. By merely freezing it for five years, the budget was projected to reach balance this year.
…Things have gotten a lot worse. In just the two years since Paul’s last proposal, our federal overlords have added an astounding $11 trillion to the national debt. Interest payments on the now-$30.5 trillion balance have grown by 32%.….
The measure was defeated by a 67-29 vote. Faithful to their big government values, no Democrats backed the measure.
However, 17 “fiscally conservative” Republicans voted against it: Blunt (MO), Boozman (AZ), Burr (NC), Capito (WV), Collins (ME), Cornyn (TX), Graham (SC), Inhofe (OK), McConnell (KY), Murkowski (AR), Portman (OH), Rounds (SD), Sasse (NE), Shelby (AL), Thune (SD), Tillis (NC) and Young (IN).
Dodging Paul’s intent to put everyone’s true fiscal colors on the record, four Republicans skipped the vote altogether: Daines (MT), Moran (KS), Toomey (PA) and Wicker (MS).
Things were already bleak, but the fiscal math is now taking a sharp turn for the worse. Today’s rising interest rates translate into more money required just to cover interest payments.
According to the Congressional Budget Office’s latest baseline, interest expense will triple from nearly $400 billion in 2022 to $1.2 trillion in 2032—totaling $8.1 trillion over that horizon. As terrible as that sounds, it’s going to be a major understatement.
That’s because CBO’s Treasury rate assumptions are in the midst of being mugged by reality. For its baseline, CBO assumes the 3-month T-bill rate will average 0.9% this calendar year, but it’s already spiked to 1.69%. Similarly, CBO assumes the 10-year will average 2.4% in 2022 and only rise to 3.8% ten years from now. It was 3.28% on Thursday.
At least Rand Paul can say he tried.
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While Rand Paul’s latest plan would surely get Republicans ‘crushed’ at the polls in the next major election, the 17 so-called “fiscally conservative GOP senators who voted against it, along with the four Republicans who skipped the vote altogether … should at least present their own politically defensible economic plan to get America’s fiscal crisis back under control.
Washington Democrats have a plan: Increase spending to get as many Americans dependent on government as possible, blow out the budget, destroy the dollar, decimate the free market system, and set America on track for economic and social disaster.
Washington Republicans have no plan: They are content to complain about Democrat policies, twiddle their thumbs, and allow America to hit what the GAO calls “the fiscal cliff.”.
Main Street America Republicans do have a plan, an economically viable, politically defensible plan that will: 1) Generate enormous new tax revenue flows into the U.S. Treasury coffers and yield $619 billion budget surpluses each of the first five years of activation; 2) Pay for itself entirely over a 10-15 year period; 3) Eliminate massive amounts of household and small business debt across America; 4) Reduce dependency on government by millions of citizens; 5) Restore financial security for millions of working-class American families; 6) Strengthen the U.S.Dollar and solidify its position as the world’s most stable and trusted currency; 7) Set America back on track for long-term economic prosperity.
The Leviticus 25 Plan is a dynamic economic initiative providing direct liquidity benefits for American families, while at the same time scaling back the role of government in managing and controlling the affairs of citizens. It is a comprehensive plan with long-term economic and social benefits for citizens and government.
The inspiration for this plan is based upon Biblical principles set forth in the Book of Leviticus, principles tendering direct economic liberties to the people.
The Leviticus 25 Plan – An Economic Acceleration Plan for America
$90,000 per U.S. citizen – Leviticus 25 Plan 2023 (6856 downloads)