Congress hates ideas to cut spending. Whether we are talking about Republicans or Democrats, they seem to be incapable of taking any concrete action to lead on the idea of balancing the budget and paying down America’s approximate $36 trillion in debt. Our national debt is emerging as the greatest threat to national security, yet Congress refuses to follow the lead of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), run by Elon Musk, to make reforms to government spending programs. The fact that the Senate has rejected ideas to use the budget process to cut spending is a bad sign going forward.
The Trump Administration has been aggressive in finding places to cut spending through executive action. This continues the idea of “Promises Made, Promises Kept” that has been a mantra of the Trump Administration since his first term in office. One promise was to find ways to shrink government where it made sense. The executive branch of government has taken the lead on weeding out waste, fraud and abuse, yet Congress seems to want to increase spending on programs they want to empower, yet they steadfastly refuse to pay for new spending with the spending cuts proposed by President Trump and Members of Congress who have proposed reforms to government programs.
The evidence of a lack of will on the part of the Senate to cut any spending was clear recently when my former boss, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), offered an amendment to the Senate budget resolution on February 20, 2025 to cut federal spending by at least $1.5 trillion mirroring his “Six Penny Plan.” The Paull amendment sets up a process to balance the federal budget in five years by cutting spending 6% per year by creating a new budget function that freezes in programs spending, in addition to calling on Congress to find a 6% cut every year for five years. The Paul idea preserves Congressional discretion on how to achieve the reductions.
The vote on Sen. Paul’s Amendment was 24 to 76 with 29 Republicans voting against it. Sen. Paul was joined by Sens. Barrasso (R-WY), Britt (R-AL), Cassidy (R-LA), Cruz (R-TX), Curtis (R-UT), Daines (R-MT), Ernst (R-IA), Hagerty (R-TN), Husted (R-OH), Johnson (R-WI), Justice (R-WV), Kennedy (R-LA), Lee (R-UT), Lummis (R-WY), McCormick (R-PA), Moody (R-FL), Moreno (R-OH), Risch (R-ID), Schmidt (R-MO), Scott (R-FL), Sheehy (R-MT), Tuberville (R-AL), and Young (R-IN) in trying to pass the plan. It is encouraging to see newly elected and appointed Republicans supporting Sen. Paul’s effort, but discouraging that most of the Republican caucus voted with Democrats against cuts.
While the Trump Administration is cutting spending, the United States Senate, controlled by Republicans, is passing this new budget to increase spending. During Sen. Paul’s speech to the Senate proposing his amendment to the budget, he argued, “you have been seeing reports that Elon Musk and DOGE and getting rid of waste, fraud and abuse by the billions if not trillions of dollars yet we are meeting here today though because Congress, namely the Senate wants to increase federal spending.” The increase is $340 billion, and the Senator made the point that “if we were fiscally conservative, why wouldn’t we take the savings from Elon Musk and DOGE and move it over here to help with the border.” Senator Paul is spot on that the only way that DOGE cuts will continue forward is if Congress plays ball and puts the cuts into law.
It is sad to see that business as usual prevails in the Senate. Next, the House of Representatives will pass a different budget that has the support of President Trump, and it is the hope of the American people that the House budget does not continue spending money they don’t have. According to the U.S. Treasury, the Fiscal Year 2024 budget allowed for $6.75 trillion in spending with revenues at only $4.92 trillion that resulted in a deficit of $1.83 trillion, an increase in spending of $138 billion from the prior year.
The spending of the federal government, thanks to enablers in both parties in Congress, is unsustainable. When we look at national security threats, one big one is our debt causing a melt down of our economy making it impossible to fund defense or anything else. If Congress does not right the ship and find ways to balance the budget in this budget process, there is little to no hope that they will ever do it.
I am an optimist and hope that when this budget process is complete, Congress comes to their collective senses and finds ways to incorporate DOGE cuts into the budget plan while finding ways to incorporate Sen. Paul’s plan to restrict spending for the purposes of getting our national debt under control.
Brian Darling is former Counsel and Sr. Communications Director for Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY).