Republican Senate Says No to Rand Paul’s Balanced Budget

By Elias Atienza

Senator Rand Paul’s (R-KY) renewed push to balance the budget was foiled yesterday when his amendment to Senate Continuing Resolution 3 was defeated 14-83. The Continuing Resolution was to “set the budget setting forth the congressional budget for the United States Government for fiscal year 2017 and setting forth the appropriate budgetary levels for fiscal years 2018.”

The other thirteen Senators in support were all Republicans, including Senators Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Tim Scott, Mike Crapo, Mike Lee, Pat Toomey, Steve Daines, John Kennedy, Jerry Moran, James Risch, Ben Sasse, James Lankford, and Jeff Flake.

The measure would have balanced the budget within five years while also retaining the guidelines for repealing the Affordable Care Act. Paul said to The Hill that his measure was a “conservative budget” that could appeal to both parties.

“I think there’s something in my version of a budget for both Republicans and Democrats because mine calls for freezes in spending, but would allow the different appropriations committees to decide where the spending should be cut,” Paul said to The Hill.

Tonight’s vote on my balanced budget shows there isn’t enough serious fiscal conservatism in Senate. I will keep fighting!

— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) January 10, 2017

Senator Bernie Sanders told deficit hawks that they should vote for the measure, even though he did not vote for it in the end.