Ron Paul's 'Restore America' Plan Proposes $1 Trillion in Cuts

Ron Paul Proposes $1 Trillion in Specific Budget Cuts

October 17, 2011

Politico - Ron Paul’s opinions about cutting the budget are well-known, but on Monday, he got specific: The Texas congressman laid out a budget blueprint for deep and far-reaching cuts to federal spending, including the elimination of five Cabinet-level departments and the drawdown of American troops fighting overseas.

There’s even a symbolic readjustment of the president’s salary to put it in line with the average American salary.

“Our debt is too big, our government is too big, and we have to recognize how serious the problem is,” Paul said during an afternoon speech in Las Vegas ahead of Tuesday’s GOP debate there.

The plan, Paul said, would cut $1 trillion in spending his first year in the White House and create a balanced federal budget by the third year of his presidency.

“All the current candidates and many in Washington, they sort of talk around [the problem],” Paul said. “A lot of people will say, ‘well cutting a trillion dollars in one year is radical.’ Well, I operate under the assumption that the radicals have been in charge for way too long.”

Many of the ideas in Paul’s 11-page Plan to Restore America are familiar from his staunch libertarianism, as well as tea party favorites, like eliminating the Education and Energy Departments. But Paul goes further, proposing an immediate freeze on spending by numerous government agencies at levels from 2006, the last time Republicans had complete control of the federal budget, and drastic reductions in spending elsewhere. The Environmental Protection Agency would see a 30 percent cut; the Food and Drug Administration would see a 40 percent cut; and foreign aid would be zeroed out immediately. He’d also take an ax to Pentagon funding for wars.

Appearing on CNN ahead of the speech, Paul was pressed by Wolf Blitzer on how eliminating about 221,000 government jobs across five cabinet departments would boost the economy. He responded:

“They’re not productive jobs,” he said.

“You cut government spending, that money goes back to you. You get to spend the money,” Paul said during his speech. “I am absolutely convinced it is the only road to prosperity.”

Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, food stamps, family support programs and the children’s nutrition program would be block-granted to the states and removed from the mandatory spending column of the federal budget. Some functions of eliminated departments, such as Pell Grants, would be continued elsewhere in the federal bureaucracy.

And in a noticeable nod to seniors during an election year, when Social Security’s become an issue within the Republican presidential primaries, the campaign says that plan “honors our promise to our seniors and veterans, while allowing young workers to opt out.”

The federal workforce would be reduced by 10 percent, and the president’s pay would be cut from $400,000 to $39,336 — a level that the Paul document notes is “approximately equal to the median personal income of the American worker.”

Paul would also make far-reaching changes to federal tax policy, reducing the top corporate income tax rate to 15 percent, eliminating capital gains and dividends taxes and allowing for repatriation of overseas capital without tax penalties. All tax cuts enacted under former President George W. Bush would be extended.

And like the rest of his GOP rivals, Paul would repeal President Barack Obama’s health care reform law, along with the Dodd-Frank financial regulatory reform law enacted last year. A longtime Federal Reserve critic, Paul would also push a full audit of the central bank, as well as legislation to “strengthen the dollar and stabilize inflation.”

Editorial: Ron Paul's $1 Trillion in Cuts

October 27, 2011

Orange County Register - ...Within three years, Mr. Paul says the budget can be balanced. He would start by cutting the planned $3.7 trillion government spending by $1 trillion in his first year. His plan does this without fiscal harm to Medicare or Social Security funding. This is remarkable considering these two entitlements constitute such a huge portion of the budget. But as Mr. Paul says, he intends to honor "our promise to seniors and veterans."

He would, however, permit younger workers to opt out of Social Security, an excellent idea to empower millions of people to control their own retirement investments while simultaneously relieving taxpayers of the mounting deficit that otherwise could bankrupt America.

Mr. Paul would convert the other great federal entitlement, Medicaid, and other welfare programs to state-administered block grants to permit innovation and tailoring to local needs rather than conforming to costly Washington diktats.

Except for Republicans who want to channel tax money to favored constituencies, many of Mr. Paul's other cuts should be warmly welcomed. Perhaps not defense. But, as he said in the most recent candidates debate, there is plenty that isn't real defense in the Defense Department budget. Ending foreign wars would go a long way to achieve his modest 15 percent reduction.

Meanwhile, true fiscal conservatives and limited-government champions should applaud Mr. Paul's proposal to eliminate five Cabinet departments, including one Ronald Reagan unsuccessfully targeted, Education, along with Commerce, Energy, HUD and Interior. He also would repeal Obamacare, and the onerous financial regulations of Dodd-Frank and Sarbanes-Oxley, while reducing the president's salary from $400,000 to $39,336, the median U.S. personal income. Mr. Paul would cut 10 percent of the federal workforce while reducing corporate taxes 15 percent and extending the Bush tax cuts.

Libertarian Cato Institute budget analyst Tad DeHaven told us Mr. Paul's plan should prompt other candidates to specify what they would cut. "

If not," Mr. DeHaven said, "they should be prepared to explain to the electorate why taxpayers should keep funding the departments that Paul would ax."

Let the explanations begin.

Ron Paul $1 Trillion Cut Plan Targets Five Cabinet Departments

Energy, Commerce, Interior, Education, and HUD would get the axe

October 17, 2011

US News - If Rep. Ron Paul becomes president, he would cut his own salary to less than $40,000 a year, end five cabinet-level departments, audit the Federal Reserve, end all foreign wars, and trim the federal workforce by 10 percent. These and other cuts are part of Paul's "Plan to Restore America," released Monday, which details how he would decrease federal spending by $1 trillion during his first year as president and balance the budget by his third year.

The details of the plan should come as no surprise to those who have paid attention to Paul and his libertarian political philosophy, which emphasizes free markets and a limited government based on what he sees as the principles of the Founding Fathers.

"He's the only presidential candidate that's introduced a plan that actually balances the budget in a reasonable amount of time," claims campaign spokesman Gary Howard.

"These are things that have to be done now to head off any long-term damage that's coming. We're in over our heads as far as debt goes, and it's only getting worse."

On Paul's chopping block are the Departments of Energy, Commerce, Interior, Education, and Housing and Urban Development. He would privatize the Federal Aviation Administration and the Transportation Security Administration while freezing spending for most other departments. He also plans to repeal President Obama's signature healthcare law, as well as the Dodd-Frank and Sarbanes-Oxley financial regulations.

The plan would freeze spending for Medicaid and a few other social programs like the Child Nutrition Program, changing them into block grants to the states and moving them from the mandatory spending section of the federal budget to the discretionary spending section, which means the programs' budgets would need to be approved by Congress annually.

Paul's desired presidential salary of $39,336—what the campaign identifies as the approximate median personal income of American workers—is a way "to stand with the American People," the plan explains.

There is one notable area of government that would survive Paul's knife. Department of Veterans Affairs funding would continue to increase at the currently scheduled levels, according to the plan. Howard says that Paul believes that since "you send people all over the world to fight for America and to fight for freedom, we shouldn't be cutting any benefits once they get back."

Again, this is no surprise. Paul, who served as a flight surgeon in the U.S. Air Force, has emphasized his support for veterans in the past, including through a campaign ad called that featured former soldiers appreciating his advocacy on their behalf and calling him "a veteran's best friend."

Paul has also said that support from active-duty members of the military is a sign he is on the right track with his push to end foreign wars and cut military spending.

"We don't know about this quarter," Paul said at a recent luncheon at the National Press Club, "but so far I've gotten more than twice as much money from active military duty than all the other Republican candidates put together, so that should be a message."