Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) will soon introduce legislation that puts just about all other spending cut plans proposed by Republicans this Congress to shame.
The bill, passed my way by a source, calls for $500 billion in specific spending cuts during Fiscal Year 2011 — which comes to a close at the end of September, just eight months from now.
Like the House’s Republican Study Committee before him, Paul targets projects and agencies dear to liberals. It defunds completely the Affordable Housing Program, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
But it goes much farther than that.
It calls for rescinding all funds to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (that’s the agency that offers protection from unsafe cribs and lead paint). It dramatically reduces spending to nearly every government agency. It rescinds most of the Department of Energy’s funds and transfers the remaining dollars and accounts to the Department of Defense.
Paul would reduce Health and Human Services funding by over $26.5 billion, including over $5.8 billion in reductions for the National Institute of Health. He’d slash defense spending by over $47 billion, and defund all Department of Education programs immediately, while capping Pell grants at just over $16.2 billion. He does not, however, propose to touch Social Security between now and the end of the fiscal year.
Paul’s office was not immediately available for comment Tuesday evening. But a plan like this was the essence of his, and other tea party-backed campaigns in 2010.
You can read the entire proposal here.
Brian Beutler
Brian Beutler is TPM's senior congressional reporter. Since 2009, he's led coverage of health care reform, Wall Street reform, taxes, the GOP budget, the government shutdown fight, and the debt limit fight. He can be reached at brian@talkingpointsmemo.com.
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