Rand Paul: Cut Entitlements, Defense Budget

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. addresses the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 10, 2011.

/ AP Photo/Alex Brandon

WASHINGTON -- Kentucky GOP Senator Rand Paul said in a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference Thursday that the House GOP's budget proposal is "too little, it's not enough, it's too timid, and we must be more bold."

"They're talking about cutting $35 billion," the Tea Party-backed freshman said. "We spend $35 billion in five days. We add $35 billion to the debt in nine days. It's not enough and we will not avoid financial ruin in our country if we do not think more boldly."

Paul's proposal is to cut $500 billion from the budget.  He said both Democrats and Republicans need to accept that deep cuts need to be made to balance the budget, stating that the "looming debt crisis" is "worse than you can imagine." He said the Department of Education should be cut, leaving education to the states, and that entitlement reform was necessary, including raising the Social Security retirement age. His suggestion that people be allowed to opt out of Social Security was met with a standing ovation from many in the audience.

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Paul elicited what he later acknowledged was a "mixed response" - cheers mixed with boos - when he said "We will have to look long and hard at the military budget," however.

"The most important thing that our government does is our national defense, absolutely," he said. "But you cannot say that the doubling of the military budget in the last ten years has all been spent wisely and there's not any waste in it."

Paul also complained that the government was wrongly using the commerce clause in the Constitution to justify big government programs like the health care law. He said court tests of the law are about "whether or not we believe our government should be constrained by the Constitution."

(Check back soon for Hotsheet's interview with Paul following the speech.) 

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Brian Montopoli is a senior political reporter for CBSNews.com. You can read more of his posts here.

[levelheadedtoo]

I have yet to hear of a single wealthy American turn down their Social Security check or their Medicare. I have not heard of a single member of congress announce they are turning down their government provided health insurance in favor of a better and low cost private plan.

In fact Republican Representative Paul Gosar complained that his government health plan wasn't going into effect for 30 days. He is the same guy that is flopping in his office.

[cbstest]

Cut entitlements, yea right. Did he say which ones?

[sjc_1]

Social security is one. They could income and net worth test social security, but the GOP wants the rich to be able to pay their country club fees with tax payer dollars.

[pr_boxer]

Another crazy conservative who just chatters away, all nonsense.

[tmittelstaed]

You can't opt out of SS because the entire SS thing was designed as an investment, not a savings account with no interest. You put your FICA in and get MORE money out when you retire. That's how it works. Take a look at your SS statements one of these days.

Since no real investments were ever made (just t-bills) the extra money has to come from t-bill interest payments which are made out of the budget. If you let people opt out then you have less coming in from taxes to pay ou more. It's an impossible situation. What will eventually pay for everything is when inflation goes great guns once of these days.

[decotoguy]

This dude could put his head back into his A$S,there is no way to STOP
The Military-Industrial Complex.
Everything is going as planned,the OIL in Saudi Arabia is more important
than the American taxpayer.

People of America lost their chance in 2000,when that Election
was STOLEN by the Republicans,G.W.Bush,and the Supreme Court,the
American people did NOTHING,just followed the leader to that
NEW WORLD ORDER......JUST SUCK-IT UP America.
"Either your with US or your against US????"

[nearl451]

Yeah and really really cut funding to border security too.

Hey haven't ya heard. Not in the Constitution, then you can't do it....and we're broke.

[myopinionpal]

The first entitlement to cut is the guaranteed retirement pay courtesy of the US taxpayers.

[bradkt1]

Well, basically we are only hearing about the entitlements that the Republicans want to cut. We haven't heard much of anything about defense...just some vague GOP noises...

...and that's all.

[robbyr2]

Don't forget that when the federal government cuts education spending that this means your state and local taxes will go up.

[WisconsinSlim]

The other thing to remember is that when the media says we need to have an educational system that will allow us to compete with India and China, this is just lip service. Investing in education is investing in the future, and America is all about gratification now. When Clinton left office, we had a balanced budget and very little foreign debt. Bush put us in this mess with two wars and tax cuts that benefitted the wealthy while shrinking the middle class. Why isn't he held accountable?

[slappy_mcghee]

by Nmmrng
Good to see that there are folks out there talking about making the cuts.

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Talk isn't enough.

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