Paul Challenges Wasteful Washington Spending by Both Parties

FOR RELEASE: February 28, 2001 Paul Challenges Wasteful Washington Spending by both Parties Proposed Budget Needs to be Cut Washington, D.C. Representative Ron Paul today urged his Congressional colleagues to make drastic reductions to the nearly $2 trillion budget presented by the administration. "While I certainly support the administration tax cut plan as a small step in the right direction, the proposed budget is far too large," Paul stated. "Both political parties accept as inevitable that the budget must grow each year, and the administration even applauds itself for proposing a 'sustainable long-term growth rate' for coming budgets! The spending culture in Washington never changes. Last year's spending is used merely as a baseline budget; the only question is how much more Congress will spend this year. It's no victory simply to reduce the rate at which the budget grows. The administration should remember its campaign promises and work to shrink the size of the federal government. The first priority should be eliminating the mindset that spending must increase each year." Paul expressed particular concern over billions added to the Education department budget, especially given administration promises to return more authority over education to states and local school districts. "Every year Congress spends more and more on education, yet our public schools continue to decline," Paul continued. "Now the administration proposes an 11% spending increase, meaning taxpayers will spend nearly 50 billion dollars next year on more failed federal education programs. Those dollars should remain at the local level, where parents and teachers make better decisions than federal education bureaucrats. The small portion of every education tax dollar actually spent on local schools comes with federal strings attached. By contrast, education tax credits would allow parents to pay tuition, buy educational tools, fund extracurriculars, or otherwise improve their children's education directly at the local level. The administration should be reducing rather than increasing the role of the federal government in our education system. We owe it to American children to end the failed federal education monopoly." "We hear politicians talk about smaller government, but the size of the federal budget marches on each year," Paul concluded. "So much federal spending could be eliminated if Congress stopped funding unconstitutional programs. I plan to continue my efforts during the appropriations process to make needed cuts in the bloated federal budget."