Kentucky Senator Rand Paul came out against President Joe Biden and Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy's tentative debt ceiling deal.
The Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 was introduced on Tuesday following McCarthy and Biden's negotiation on the proposed debt ceiling deal.
"Fake conservatives agreed to fake spending cuts, and conservatives were sold out once again," Paul said in a Tuesday video citing over $4 trillion in new debt over the next two years should the legislation proceed.
"The Biden-McCarthy deal never balances the budget, and it cements the Covid spending binge that drove inflation."
Paul criticized the debt deal by citing a preservation of 98% of expansion and funding for new IRS which McCarthy came out against during his Speakership vote. The Kentucky Senator further criticized the bill for not cutting Democrats' "crony energy giveaways."
"I will absolutely not vote to expand our national debt by $4 trillion," Paul said, announcing he will offer a conservative alternative to the Biden-McCarthy deal when the bill reaches the Senate. "My solution replaces the fake spending caps with real spending caps on total government spending."
Paul detailed his "Five Penny Budget Plan" designed to balance the government's budget in five years. He noted the plan creates a federal mandate preventing government from spending more money than it brings in.
"Spending increases are forbidden from exceeding revenue forever," he said. "Our government's approach to budgeting is entirely irresponsible. No American is allowed to continue running up copious amounts of debt without consequences."
"At some point the bills must be paid, and spending must stop."
Paul's Penny Plan, which was originally introduced in 2017, was designed as a five-year freeze in government spending. The senator noted the budget would be balanced today if the plan had been adopted at the time.
"Unfortunately, they didn't have the courage," Paul lamented. "It's not too late to reverse course. It's time that legislators come together and pass my conservative solution."
"We can't fight a five-alarm fire with a water pistol," he said. "For once, Congress must have some common sense and pass my conservative solution before it's too late."
McCarthy acknowledged opponents of the deal by addressing the Democrat-controlled Senate.
“Maybe it doesn’t do everything for everyone, but this is a step in the right direction that no one thought that we would be able to today,” McCarthy said of the tentative deal. “I’ll debate this bill with anybody. Is it everything I wanted? No, because we don’t control all of it. But it is the biggest rescission in history. It is the biggest cut Congress has ever voted for in that process.”
“We still have a lot of work to do, but I believe this is an agreement in principle that is worthy of the American people,” he continued. “It has historic reductions in spending, consequential reforms that will lift people out of poverty into the workforce, [and] rein in government overreach. There are no new taxes, no new government programs."
