{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.paul.senate.gov/news-dr-randpaul-introduces-pennies-plan-balanced-budget/", "Dr. RandPaul Introduces \u2018Pennies Plan\u2019 Balanced Budget", "2019-04-01", "2019", "2019-04", "Republican", "Senate", "KY", "Rand Paul", "P000603", "www.paul.senate.gov", "paul", "https://www.paul.senate.gov/news/", "scraper", "FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:\n\nApril 1, 2019\n\nContact: Press@paul.senate.gov, 202-224-4343\n\nWASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 Today, U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY), chairman of the Federal Spending Oversight and Emergency Management (FSO) Subcommittee for the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC), introduced his \u201cPennies Plan\u201d federal budget to get Washington\u2019s spending under control and make it a more efficient and effective steward of the American people\u2019s tax dollars.\n\n\u201cA balanced federal budget isn\u2019t a pie-in-the-sky dream or empty rhetoric. Once again, I am introducing a concrete plan that is achievable and allows Congress maximum flexibility to prioritize spending. It leads the way toward fiscal responsibility, an even stronger economy, and a future full of opportunity for the American people,\u201d said Dr. Paul.\n\nAs spending and debt continue to skyrocket, Dr. Paul\u2019s budget simply states that for every on-budget dollar the federal government spent in Fiscal Year 2019, it spend two pennies fewer a year (a cut of two percent per year) for the next five years (at which point balance is reached), with spending then growing at two percent for five years afterward.\n\nDr. Paul\u2019s budget reforms Congress\u2019 reconciliation and budget processes \u2013 all without making any changes to Social Security \u2013 and includes instructions that would help pave the way for making the middle-class tax cuts permanent and further expanding access to Health Savings Accounts (HSAs).\n\nYou can find more background on Dr. Paul\u2019s proposal below, and you can read his budget below:\n\nDr. Rand Paul\u2019s Balanced Budget:\n\n\u2022 Reduces spending by $183.1B in FY20 and by $11.3T over 10 years relative to baseline.\n\n\u2022 Total spending still increases by 18.2 percent over the ten-year window. Only in Washington could an 18.2 percent increase be characterized as a \u201ccut.\u201d\n\n\u2022 Balances without making any changes to Social Security.\n\n\u2022 Makes no specific policy assumptions \u2013 all the savings are reflected in a new budget function (Function number 930: New Efficiencies, Consolidations, and Other Savings). This budget sets a goal of balance and then calls on Congress to use the tools provided to make the changes in law needed to achieve that objective.\n\nReiterates fundamental principles\n\n\u2022 As policy debates present diametrically opposed visions of our country\u2019s future, Dr. Paul\u2019s budget establishes a sense of Congress that the United States will not be a socialist nation.\n\nPaves the way for continued reform\n\n\u2022 Provides reconciliation instructions to the Senate Finance Committee to make middle class tax relief permanent.\n\n\u2022 Creates a reserve fund to allow for expansion of Health Savings Accounts (HSAs).\n\nReconciliation and Budget Process Reform\n\n\u2022 Provides reconciliation instructions to eight committees with mandatory spending, ensuring every eligible committee participates in the reconciliation process, as was the process\u2019 original purpose.\n\n\u2022 Raises the waiver threshold for all budget points of order so the Senate is held to a higher standard.\n\n\u2022 Makes the budget spending totals enforceable for 10 years instead of just one.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-06-27T23:23:17Z"]], "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-randpaul-introduces-pennies-plan-balanced-budget/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7297261618077755, "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"}