Sen. Rand Paul is calling on Congress to pass his Six Penny Plan, a balanced budget proposal that would require lawmakers to find a 6% cut in federal spending each year for five years, as the national debt has surpassed $40 trillion and annual interest payments have exceeded $1 trillion.
In a statement, Paul warned that the federal budget deficit is out of control and that Congress has «completely lost the plot» on fiscal responsibility. He noted that the government now spends more on interest than on national defense, a milestone he described as a blinking red warning light. According to Paul, this massive debt is contributing to rising interest rates and inflation, hurting every American.
The Six Penny Plan, which Paul plans to force a vote on later this year, does not prescribe specific programs or budget categories to cut. It even exempts Social Security from reductions. Instead, it sets a maximum spending level, leaving it to Congress to decide priorities within that cap. Under the plan, Congress would need to find a 6% cut each year for five years. Once the budget is balanced, spending could increase based on additional revenue from economic growth.
Paul first proposed what became the Penny Plan in 2018, when Congress would have needed only to work within a spending freeze for five years. Subsequent versions required a 1% cut, then became the «Pennies Plan,» and now the Six Penny Plan because it requires finding six pennies out of every dollar. Paul argues that Congress’s inaction then is making the job harder now.
He criticized Congress for passing a continuing resolution earlier this summer to extend the status quo and for planning to debate another extension before the end of the year. «Kicking the can down the road has been standard procedure in Congress for too long,» Paul said. «Lawmakers have treated the debt like someone else’s problem, to be dealt with some other day in the future. Well, the future has arrived.»
Paul also framed inaction on the debt as a vote to increase what he called the hidden inflation tax on everyone, a willful decision to let inflation wreak havoc on the cost of living. He said the Six Penny Plan is the answer and that it has been supported by a majority of Senate Republicans when voted on in 2024 and 2025. Because a budget resolution needs only a majority vote to pass, Senate Republicans have the numbers to pass it, he added.
«No one can say he or she supports a balanced budget while voting against the only balanced budget that came up for a vote,» Paul said. «No more empty promises. No more excuses. No more games.»
The senator’s push comes as the national debt has climbed from about $15 trillion in 2011, when the Treasury spent over $450 billion on interest, to more than $40 trillion today. Paul, who left his medical practice to run for office, said he ran to prevent children and grandchildren from being bankrupted by reckless politicians. He now plans to force a vote on the Six Penny Plan later this year, arguing that support has been building and that there should be enough votes to pass it.