{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.paul.senate.gov/news-dr-rand-paul-republicans-musnt-enable-bidens-overspending-waiving-paygo/", "Dr. Rand Paul: Republicans musn\u2019t enable Biden\u2019s overspending by waiving PAYGO", "2021-12-09", "2021", "2021-12", "Republican", "Senate", "KY", "Rand Paul", "P000603", "www.paul.senate.gov", "paul", "https://www.paul.senate.gov/news/", "scraper", "FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:\n\nDecember 9, 2021\n\nContact: Press_Paul@paul.senate.gov, 202-224-4343\n\nWASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 In an op-ed for the Washington Examiner today, U.S. Senator and physician Rand Paul made clear his opposition to raising the debt limit and waiving PAYGO.\n\n\u201cFor months, Republicans gave President Joe Biden\u2019s social spending bill the accurate label: \u201cthe Democrats\u2019 reckless tax and spending spree.\u201d Republicans, in unison, opposed the $2 trillion spending spree Democrats passed this spring. But now, Republican leadership is pushing a bill to forgive all that spending,\u201d stated Dr. Paul in the piece. \u201cAccording to the law that governs Congress\u2019s budget process, this spending has to be offset by equal cuts from somewhere else. The law is called PAYGO. But Republican leadership and Democrats are going to waive PAYGO, allowing Biden\u2019s spending spree to become debt instead of being offset by spending cuts.\u201d\n\nYou can read Dr. Paul\u2019s entire op-ed HERE or below.\n\n***\n\nRepublicans musn\u2019t enable Biden\u2019s overspending by waiving PAYGO\n\nBy: Dr. Rand Paul\n\nDecember 9, 2021\n\nhttps://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/op-eds/republicans-musnt-enable-bidens-overspending-by-waiving-paygo\n\nThere\u2019s a palpable chill in the air in Washington this week, and I\u2019m not talking about the weather.\n\nI\u2019m talking about the icy forecast of our country\u2019s fiscal stability and the possibility that Republicans could be complicit in creating such treacherous conditions.\n\nFor months, Republicans gave President Joe Biden\u2019s social spending bill the accurate label: \u201cthe Democrats\u2019 reckless tax and spending spree.\u201d Republicans, in unison, opposed the $2 trillion spending spree Democrats passed this spring. But now, Republican leadership is pushing a bill to forgive all that spending.\n\nAccording to the law that governs Congress\u2019s budget process, this spending has to be offset by equal cuts from somewhere else. The law is called PAYGO. But Republican leadership and Democrats are going to waive PAYGO, allowing Biden\u2019s spending spree to become debt instead of being offset by spending cuts.\n\nThis monstrosity of a bill also allows the debt ceiling to go up with a simple majority vote. Republican leadership, which ostensibly guards the filibuster, is allowing this bill to neuter the filibuster with respect to the debt ceiling. The bill sets a precedent that the debt ceiling can be raised without requiring a supermajority \u2014 a big concession.\n\nVoters should be appalled that Republican leadership is basically giving Democrats their Christmas wish list on a silver platter. This horrible \u201cdeal\u201d they concocted gives Democrats an easy path to raise the debt ceiling using expedited procedures and would enable even more reckless spending.\n\nThe current debt limit is $28.9 trillion. That\u2019s essentially the limit on America\u2019s credit card. What happens when you don\u2019t pay the balance of your credit card bill? You pay interest charges. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office now projects that interest costs on our debt will be $5.4 trillion over 10 years, and the projected deficit for this year is $1.1 trillion.\n\nWe cannot afford to raise the debt limit without meaningful spending reform. Continued reckless spending is dangerous to the health of our country and our national security. Simply put, the bill provides reckless spenders with a blank check and sends the country further down a dangerous path that threatens a future of confiscatory tax rates, low employment prospects, and high inflation.\n\nI hate to say it, but I told you so.\n\nIn March, I tried to force Congress to follow the rules it had set for itself and pay for new COVID spending by enforcing PAYGO rules. Speaking from the Senate floor, I noted that \u201cbig spenders like to say the federal government is different than a family budget and that we have the Federal Reserve who can print up money to buy our debt. But all that does is cause inflation.\u201d\n\nAnd what do you know, just as I predicted, the Bureau of Labor Statistics recently reported that inflation hit 6.2% \u2014 the highest level in a generation.\n\nReady for the worst part of all this? If the Biden administration\u2019s Build Back Better spending bill passes this year, it won\u2019t be subject to the mandatory PAYGO cuts. Republicans would literally be facilitating Biden and the Democrats\u2019 priorities.\n\nI\u2019ve often said that both Republicans and Democrats are at fault for the spending crisis in Washington, and this case is no different. Republicans ought to stop assisting the Democrats in playing their reckless game of kick-the-can-down-the-road and resist this bizarre attempt to facilitate their agenda.\n\nI have tried to warn of the dire forecast for our nation if we continue with this fiscal insanity. And while I may not be a meteorologist, I can see when a storm is brewing. Congress ought to join me in keeping an eye on the horizon and act before it\u2019s too late.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:37:48Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.paul.senate.gov/news-dr-rand-paul-republicans-musnt-enable-bidens-overspending-waiving-paygo/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.4373480807989836, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}