FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

November 16, 2023

 Contact: Press_Paul@paul.senate.gov, 202-224-4343

ICYMI: Dr. Rand Paul Forces Senate Vote on Conservative Amendment Saving Taxpayers Billions

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Last night, U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) forced the U.S. Senate to vote on his conservative amendment to the U.S. House of Representatives’ short-term spending bill that would have saved American taxpayers $50 billion over ten weeks.

Dr. Paul’s $50 billion cut, one percent of total federal spending, would exclude Social Security, Medicare, the Department of Defense, Military Construction, and the Department of Veterans Affairs and would rescind $30 billion from funds originally appropriated to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

32 Senate Republicans voted for Dr. Paul’s amendment. You can view the full vote tally HERE.

Below are excerpts from Dr. Paul’s floor remarks ahead of the vote:

“To continue spending money at the current levels will inevitably lead to the bankruptcy of our great nation. My amendment, in order to stave off such a terrible fiscal outcome, would cut approximately 1% of our budgetary spending and help to put us on the path towards fiscal responsibility. In June of this year, the national debt surpassed $32 trillion. Then, in September, the national debt surpassed $33 trillion. You heard that right. It took Congress 90 short days to add a trillion dollars in debt.

“Unless we change course, the debt will consume us. America’s future as a nation is not threatened from without but from within. Our mounting debt will ultimately force a day of reckoning. The Congressional Budget Office predicts that we will add an average of $2 trillion in debt every year for the next decade. Using Congressional Budget Office projections, the U.S. government will add over $5 billion to its debt pile every single day for the next ten years. We borrow over $176 million every hour, we borrow $3 million every minute, and we borrow $50,000 every second.

“It’s only a matter of time before the world wakes up and refuses to buy our debt. This reckless level of borrowing and spending is patently unsustainable. The ever-increasing heights of our debt mean a weak economy, high inflation, and confiscatory tax rates. In other words, today’s spending threatens tomorrow’s prosperity.”

You can watch Dr. Paul’s full floor remarks HERE, and read the full text of his amendment HERE.

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