Rand Paul: GOP should give up ‘sacred cow’ and trim military spending

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on Wednesday pushed Republicans against taking military spending off the table as the party looks for ways to tackle government funding in talks on how to address the debt limit this year.

While speaking at a press conference on Wednesday afternoon, Paul framed the partisan battle over the nation’s debt limit as an opportunity for Congress to enact significant fiscal reform.

“If we were to have a $100 billion cut — which would still have us spending way more than we spent before COVID — $100 billion cut and free spending,” Paul said. “We would balance our budget in just four years.”

“We have an opportunity here. It could be done. But it would take compromise between both parties,” he continued. “Republicans would have to give up the sacred cow that says we will never touch a dollar in military, and the Democrats would have to give up the sacred cow that they will never touch a dollar in welfare.”

The call comes as Republicans have pressed to use debt limit negotiations to secure potentially significant spending cuts and other reforms as concessions from Democrats, with some conservatives floating proposals to limit new discretionary spending to fiscal 2022 levels. 

But there has been concern among Republicans over what such proposals would mean for Pentagon funding, particularly as defense hawks have reiterated strong support for those dollars in recent weeks amid the speculation.

The Treasury Department announced earlier this month that it has begun implementing so-called extraordinary measures to avert a default after the nation’s debt climbed above the roughly $31.4 trillion threshold set by Congress over a year ago.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said at the time that the steps should buy Congress until at least early June to hash out a bipartisan plan, though there are various estimates around when the nation will hit the so-called X date.

Paul was joined by Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) and Mike Braun (R-Ind.) at the press conference about the debt ceiling, which allows the government to pay for programs it has already approved.

During the event, Cruz called for lawmakers in both chambers to “hold the line and get serious about fixing this problem,” referring to government spending, while slamming the White House for pushing back against GOP calls to tie spending cuts to debt ceiling talks. 

The White House and other prominent Democrats have called for Congress to pass a debt limit bill without conditions, while raising alarm over what proposed cuts could mean for nondefense spending.