OPINION
The government is open!
Republicans in Congress cheered themselves.
All smiles as they clapped each other on the back.
Democrat Obamacare subsidies for people making up to $600,000 had been thwarted.
Amidst the glad-handing and laughter no Republicans, save the lone dissenter (me) seemed aware of the irony that the "great victory" was a continuing resolution that continues the Biden spending levels.
Continuing the Biden 2024 spending levels would add about $2 trillion in debt this year.
Fiscal profligacy doesn't sound like something to cheer about.
And it certainly doesn't sound like some seismic eruption of fiscal conservatism.
But you might ask, what was this great victory?
Pyrrhic might be the best description.
Of course, the Democrat plan was worse and would have added $3 trillion to the debt but the "Republicans victory" will still add $2 trillion to the debt.
And yet, it gets worse still.
For the umpteenth time, Congress violated its own PAYGO rules.
Hidden deep in the legislation, its pages damp with the muck of the Washington swamp, is a waiver of the pay-as-you-go law, which requires new spending be offset with spending cuts.
That means the $3.4 trillion in new borrowing included in the not-so One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBBA) will not be offset. Neither will the $2.1 billion in mandatory spending increases.
In other words, rather than cut spending, Washington politicians expect you will foot the bill when it comes due.
Are the American people really supposed to believe that every program they are currently compelled to fund could not be cut or eliminated?
With total control of the political branches of the federal government, is the Republican Party really going to congratulate itself on adding to our already unfathomable $38 trillion debt?
At some point, the membership of the legislature will have to act like responsible adults and muster up the courage to recognize what is in front of our faces: Congress spends too much money.
Even the "historic" rescissions cuts, much ballyhooed by Republicans and lamented by Democrats, could prove to be nothing more than a mirage.
Congress and the president actually rescinded $13 billion in foreign aid, but those cuts were made during the last fiscal year.
Congress has already enacted a continuing resolution to maintain Biden-era levels of spending until Jan. 30, 2026.
If Congress continues that same policy until the end of September, the foreign aid money will be restored.
Congress could, of course, preserve those rescissions but, if it did, those recissions are anemic and weak.
A $13 billion recission only cuts 0.7% of our $2 trillion annual deficits.
Put another way, those cuts represent just 0.03 percent of the country’s $38 trillion debt. With the taxpayers drowning in an ocean of debt, the best Congress can bring itself to rescind amounts to a drop.
It did not have to be this way.
In September, I offered my "Penny Plan," which would have balanced the federal budget in five years.
But the uniparty opposed my plan, with 15 Republicans voting with the Democrats to defeat my legislation.
And this isn't the first time a cabal of Democrats and big government Republicans conspired to defeat plans to restore the nation's fiscal health.
From the beginning of my career in the U.S. Senate, I offered plan after plan to balance the budget, and each time it was defeated by the coalition of big spenders.
The Senate spendthrifts' success is evident by the evolution of my balanced budget proposals. When I first introduced a plan to balance the budget, a simple spending freeze was enough to balance the budget within five years.
Then, a cut of one penny for every dollar spent was necessary to balance the budget.
Today, because of years of reckless spending, achieving balance requires reducing projected spending by 6% annually.
It's as if congressional leaders are not only guiding the ship of state directly into an iceberg but are also congratulating themselves for their brilliant navigation skills .
And so, as 2025 wanes, Republicans may well pass out cigars and clink glasses of champagne to celebrate what passes for fiscal responsibility these days: spending bills that will only result in $2 trillion deficits, miniscule rescissions packages, and never, ever, offsetting new spending with cuts.
I don't know about you, but if this is winning, I may be growing tired of it.
Senator Rand Paul has served as the junior United States senator from Kentucky since 2011. Additionally, he chairs the U.S. Senate Homeland Security Committee.
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