Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul will unveil his plan to balance the budget today in Las Vegas, including $1 trillion in spending cuts. Politico reports on some of the details:
But Paul goes further: he’ll propose immediately freezing spending by numerous government agencies at 2006 levels, the last time Republicans had complete control of the federal budget, and drastically reducing spending elsewhere. The EPA would see a 30 percent cut, the Food and Drug Administration would see one of 40 percent and foreign aid would be zeroed out immediately. He’d also take an ax to Pentagon funding for wars.
Medicaid, the children’s health insurance program, food stamps, family support programs and the children’s nutrition program would all be block-granted to the states and removed from the mandatory spending column of the federal budget.
Younger workers would be allowed to opt out of Social Security, the federal workforce would be cut by 10 percent, the Bush tax cuts would be extended, and both Obamacare and Dodd-Frank would be repealed. Paul would also reduce the presidential salary to $39,336, “approximately equal to the median personal income of the American worker.”
