This Congressional Christmas Tradition Should Be Ended: Ron Paul

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This Congressional Christmas Tradition Should Be Ended: Ron Paul

Ron Paul

Editor’s note: Staten Islander has previously covered Senator Rand Paul’s Six Penny Plan, which aims to cut spending by removing six cents for every transaction made to eventually reduce the deficit. The same Senator has sounded the alarm on a previous spending bill riddled with earmarks for congressional pet projects. 

This week saw a new twist in what has become a D.C. Christmas tradition. I am not referring to the lighting of the White House Christmas tree but to passage of a “continuing resolution” (CR) funding the government and thus avoiding a Christmastime government shutdown.

 

It took the production of three separate CRs before one passed in the Senate after midnight Friday night and was then signed by President Joe Biden.

 

A reason an earlier CR failed to obtain congressional approval was that President-elect Donald Trump, Vice President-elect J.D. Vance, and Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) heads Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy called on Republicans to oppose it. There was also opposition to the inclusion of new spending, including 100 billion dollars in disaster relief and an extension of the farm bill along with billions of dollars more in aid for farmers. The farm provisions were added at the request of Republican representatives from rural areas. Many of these Republicans denounce welfare spending and crony capitalism, while fighting to increase subsidies for large agribusinesses and rich farmers. The CR that ultimately passed included the disaster relief and the farm provisions.

 

President Trump wanted the CR to raise or suspend the debt ceiling that was expected to be reached soon. It is understandable that President Trump would want to avoid a fight over the debt ceiling early in his second term. However, refusing to raise or suspend the debt ceiling would benefit President Trump’s efforts to reduce wasteful spending.

 

The debt ceiling was created during World War One to allow the Treasury to sell bonds without first obtaining congressional authorization. Contrary to the claims of the big spenders, failure to raise or suspend the debt ceiling would not force the government to default or cause the government to not “pay its bills.” Instead, it would force the government to do what ordinary people who find themselves over their heads in debt have to do: reduce other expenses in order to pay their bills. Saying a failure to raise or suspend the debt ceiling is irresponsible is like saying a credit card company is irresponsible for refusing to extend credit to a deadbeat.

 

Raising or suspending the debt ceiling helps enable the continued growth of the welfare-warfare state, but the real enabler of Congress’s spending is the Federal Reserve’s monetization of government debt. The Federal Reserve monetizes the federal debt via the purchase of Treasuries. Congress should pass legislation forbidding the Fed from purchasing Treasuries so the Fed can no longer enable Congress’s reckless spending.

 

The Constitution gives Congress two primary responsibilities: appropriating federal funds and declaring war. Congress long ago abdicated its authority to declare war. The practice of funding the government through CRs and omnibus spending bills drafted by a few members and rushed through Congress before most members have a chance to read them deprives most members of the ability to fulfill their constitutional responsibility to help determine how to best allocate taxpayer dollars. It also denies members an opportunity to offer amendments cutting spending. This is why everyone who supports constitutional government and who understands the dangers of increasing government debt should support ending Congress’s Christmas tradition.

 


 

Note: The views expressed on Mises.org [and Statenislander.org] are not necessarily those of the Mises Institute [or Staten Islander News] .

Power & Market offers a contrarian take on world events. We favor individual freedom, honest history, and international peace, in the tradition of Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard. Connect to Power & Market via Twitter and RSS.

 

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Banner Image: Christmas decorations. Image Credit – JESHOOTS.COM

 


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Ron Paul

Ronald Ernest Paul (born August 20, 1935) is an American author, physician, and retired politician who served as the U.S. Representative for Texas's 22nd congressional district from 1976 to 1977 and again from 1979 to 1985, and then for Texas's 14th congressional district from 1997 to 2013. On three occasions, he sought the presidency of the United States: as the Libertarian Party nominee in 1988 and as a candidate for the Republican Party in 2008 and 2012. A self-described constitutionalist, Paul is a critic of the federal government's fiscal policies, especially the existence of the Federal Reserve and the tax policy, as well as the military–industrial complex, the war on drugs, and the war on terror. He has also been a vocal critic of mass surveillance policies such as the USA PATRIOT Act and the NSA surveillance programs. He was the first chairman of the conservative PAC Citizens for a Sound Economy, a free-market group focused on limited government,[3] and has been characterized as the "intellectual godfather" of the Tea Party movement, a fiscally conservative political movement that is largely against most matters of interventionism.[4][5] Paul served as a flight surgeon in the U.S. Air Force from 1963 to 1968, and worked as an obstetrician-gynecologist from the 1960s to the 1980s.[6] He became the first Representative in history to serve concurrently with a child in the Senate when his son, Rand Paul, was elected to the U.S. Senate from Kentucky in 2010.[7] Paul is a Senior Fellow of the Mises Institute,[8] and has published a number of books and promoted the ideas of economists of the Austrian School such as Murray Rothbard, Friedrich Hayek, and Ludwig von Mises during his political campaigns. After the popularity and grassroots enthusiasm of his 2008 presidential bid, Paul announced in July 2011 that he would forgo seeking another term in Congress in order to focus on his 2012 bid for the presidency.[9] Finishing in the top four with delegates in both races (while winning four states in the 2012 primaries), he refused to endorse the Republican nominations of John McCain and Mitt Romney during their respective 2008 and 2012 campaigns, and on May 14, 2012, Paul announced that he would not be competing in any other presidential primaries but that he would still compete for delegates in states where the primary elections had already been held.[10] At both the 2008 and 2012 Republican National Conventions, Paul received the second-highest number of delegates behind only McCain and Romney respectively. In January 2013, Paul retired from Congress but still remains active on college campuses, giving speeches promoting his libertarian vision.[11][12] He also continues to provide political commentary through The Ron Paul Liberty Report, a web show he co-hosts on YouTube. Paul received one electoral vote from a Texas faithless elector in the 2016 presidential election, making him the oldest person to receive an Electoral College vote, as well as the second registered Libertarian presidential candidate in history to receive an electoral vote, after John Hospers in 1972.

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