Sens. Ted Cruz and Rand Paul have emerged as the most aggressive advocates of cutting the federal government over the first four Republican debates, which would have been almost devoid of talk about reduced spending without them.
The term “cut spending” has only appeared a few times during the debates that started in August, and most Republicans haven’t offered much in the way of specifics during the debates on the subject.
But while many GOP candidates have briefly mentioned reduced spending or the need to tackle the $18.6 trillion national debt, it’s been Cruz and Paul who have offered the most specifics.
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Cruz started in the first GOP debate back in August by saying Republicans have failed to rein in spending as voters have demanded.
“There is a reason that we have $18 trillion in debt,” he said. “Because as conservatives, as Republicans, we keep winning elections. We got a Republican House, we’ve got a Republican Senate, and we don’t have leaders who honor their commitments. I will always tell the truth and do what I said I would do.”
Cruz has since proposed killing off the IRS and the Departments of Commerce, Education, Energy and Housing and Urban Development, and highlighted that plan in the fourth debate.
Paul also got started early in the first debate attacking the size of government, and said part of his plan would be to chop foreign aid.
“I’ve said I would cut spending, and I’ve said exactly where,” he said. “Each one of my budgets has taken a meat axe to foreign aid, because I think we ought to quit sending it to countries that hate us.”
“My compromise would cut the deficit in half in one year, a dramatic lessening of the burden of debt,” he added.
While foreign aid is a small part of the federal budget, Paul has also introduced legislation to cap federal spending at 18 percent of U.S. GDP, a change that would force significant spending reductions across the government.
An editorial for the Washington Examiner notes that according to the Tax Foundation, only Paul’s plan would decrease the federal budget deficit, while other plans would increase the deficit by at least $1 trillion, and Cruz’s plan would boost the deficit by $768 billion over a decade.
Most of the others have avoided specific mentions of where they would cut spending, even when the topic of entitlements is raised. For example, Chris Christie said his plan for Social Security would be to raise the retirement age, although he did say he would also means-test benefits for the wealthy.
Mike Huckabee said he’d cut retirement benefits for federal workers, and John Kasich did give a nod to the need to “reduce your expenses” if a balanced budget is to be achieved.
Others had plans that relied on slower growth rates instead of cuts. John Kasich said he would slow the growth of Medicare spending to 5 percent from 7 percent, while Jeb Bush said Republicans should fight to preserve the entitlement system.
But in the third debate, it was Paul who said he specifically opposed the recent budget deal in Congress because it found savings in entitlements, but then spent that savings immediately.
“I oppose it because you’re taking money from the entitlement and then spending it immediately on other items. That’s what they’re doing,” he said.
Along with cutting five major agencies, Cruz said he would also raise the retirement age, but also said he would make other reforms to take money away from the government.
“What I’ve said is for seniors we should make no changes whatsoever; for younger workers we should gradually raise the retirement age,” he said. “We should have benefits grow more slowly, and we should allow them to keep a portion of their taxes in a personal account that they control, and can pass on to their kids.”
In the fourth debate, Paul also stood up to Sen. Marco Rubio for proposing a tax plan that would give tax cuts to families that don’t pay any taxes, which he charged was an expensive wealth redistribution scheme. Paul also attacked Rubio’s plan for more military spending that he said was not paid for.
“How is it conservative, how is it conservative to add a trillion-dollar expenditure for the federal government that you’re not paying for?” Paul asked. “You cannot be a conservative if you’re going to keep promoting new programs that you’re not going to pay for.”
“I want a strong national defense, but I don’t want us to be bankrupt,” he said.
In the third debate, Bush acknowledged the difficulties of finding anyone who supports spending cuts, on either side.
“You find me a Democrat that will cut spending ten dollars?” he said. “Heck, find me a Republican in Congress that would cut spending ten dollars. I’ll talk to them.”
Cruz used the fourth debate to say that he was one of those Republicans.
“Again, that’s on our website at tedcruz.org,” he said. “You want to look at specificity? It’s easy for everyone to say, ‘cut spending.’ It’s much harder and riskier to put out, chapter and verse, specifically the programs you would cut to stop bankrupting our kids and grandkids.”
