Report from the bloggers' conference call with Rand Paul on his Platform to Revitalize America

Sen. Rand Paul

This afternoon Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) held a bloggers' conference call about his "Platform to Revitalize America." It's his plan to balance the federal budget within five years.

Budget...budget...why does that sound odd? Oh...it's because the Democratic-controlled Senate hasn't passed one of those 'things' in over 1,000 days.

The federal government is spending far more than it takes in--we borrow forty percent of what we spend.

Can we balance the budget so soon?

"Many people think, 'Oh, that would be impossible--we could never do it,'" Paul said early in the call. "The way you do it basically do it is by doing entitlement reform and tax reform, but also you have to eliminate some agencies. You have to say that certain functions of government should be done at the state and the local level--and not in Washington," he added.

The Kentucky freshman proposes eliminating the Commerce, Education, Housing and Urban Development, and Energy departments. Pell grants would be preserved--and nuclear weapons and research would be shifted to the Defense Department.

Green River, Kentucky

Paul also proposes dropping the Davis-Bacon Act wage provisions, selling surplus federally-owned land and properties, ending government-owned "bailout" firms, while eliminating the fiscal 2013 defense sequester cuts.

Most discretionary spending, according the Paul's plan, would be slashed to 2008 levels. Perhaps his most controversial suggestion is to bring foreign aid spending down to $5 billion. It's currently at $42 billion. The unpopular ObamaCare and Dodd-Frank bills would be repealed. However, the Keystone XL pipeline would be built and drilling would commence in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Paul's entitlement reform includes preserving Medicare by giving all seniors the same plan members of Congress enjoy and gradually raising the eligibility age--bringing it to 70--for Social Security, as well as adding progressive indexing means-testing to that program.

Marathon Pundit at Mammoth Cave, Kentucky

During the question-and-answer portion of the call I inquired about the elimination of those aforementioned departments: Would they really be dropped? Yes, those cabinet-level departments would be done away with, Paul replied. "All of the ancillary under-secretaries and all of the bureaucracy that go along with these departments would be eliminated." Paul calls his proposal "dramatic," but he said it was not outside of the mainstream because some of the Republican candidates for president have called for the abolishment of some cabinet positions.

In regards to his plan to eliminate departments--Paul called it "much different than what anyone else is proposing," which neatly summarizes all of his ideas on the budget.

Paul also suggests a 17 percent flat tax that eliminates most deductions--while preserving the popular mortgage deduction.

How does Paul's plan compare with President Obama's budget? It reduces spending by $11 tillion in relation to the president's proposal.

Hey, the Kentuckian has a plan.

Where is Harry Reid's budget proposal?

Technorati tags: politics democrat democrats current events organized labor Obama Barack Obama gop Congress Senate Kentucky kentucky politics rand paul