Presidential hopeful Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) wrote Monday that the savings found within a new debt limit deal agreed to yesterday by the White House and congressional leaders is merely a mirage.
Paul, who won’t seek reelection to the House next year, regardless of how he finishes in the race for the ‘12 Republican nomination, said that lawmakers are basing savings on lower projected spending levels in the next few years, and not on actual cuts. In reality, he wrote, they’d be wiser to freeze current spending.
“Bringing our fiscal house into order is not that complicated or excruciatingly painful at all. If we simply kept spending at current levels, by their definition of “cuts” that would save nearly $400 billion in the next few years, versus the $25 billion the Budget Control Act claims to “cut”. It would only take us 5 years to “cut” $1 trillion, in Washington math, just by holding the line on spending. That is hardly austere or catastrophic.”
Paul announced today that he will vote against the plan when it goes to the House floor either later this evening or tomorrow morning.
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