Sen. Rand Paul, Kentucky Republican, called for cuts to the Department of Defense budget and entitlement reform in his Thursday afternoon speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).
Paul criticized President Barack Obama for sounding like a conservative and offering small spending cuts, but adding $3.8 trillion to the national debt over five years.
“The president of the United States wants to sound now like he’s a conservative,” Paul said. “He says he wants to freeze spending. But, it’s going to be this much [a small amount] of the budget, with inflated levels of spending,”
Paul also criticized House GOP leadership for their proposals to cut small amounts of spending that he estimates would allow $3 trillion to be added to national debt over five years.
“The House Republicans’ proposal will freeze this much of the budget at 2008 levels and will add $3 trillion to the debt over five years,” Paul said. “It’s too little. It’s not enough. It’s too timid and we must be more bold.”
He recommended shutting down federal agencies and programs that aren’t specifically provided for in the U.S. Constitution, including the Department of Education.
“It’s time we go back to the Republican roots that says, ‘We believe in abolishing the Department of Education,” Paul said.