Sen. Rand Paul, whose budget-cutting "penny plan" was rejected overwhelmingly by the Senate on Monday, said Tuesday there is a "lot of hypocrisy in Washington," including among "big government Republicans" who are not in favor of cutting spending.
"We understand no Democrats are for reducing spending up here for reducing the debt, not one," the Kentucky Republican told Fox News' "Fox and Friends." "The surprising thing to many people, over half the Republicans, I call them big government Republicans, are not for cutting spending either."
On Monday, senators voted by 22-69 against advancing Paul's plan, meaning the plan fell short of the 60 votes that were required to move it, reports The Hill.
Paul's plan calls for cutting government spending by one penny for every dollar spent. He told Newsmax in May that would mean "if we spend $3.2 trillion in our budget, next year we'd have to cut $32 billion."
The plan would have cut spending by more than $11 trillion over a decade, when compared to current spending levels, and revamped the Senate's budget process.
"Basically we would spend 99% of what we spent last year," Paul told Fox News Tuesday. "When I present this to even liberal government advocacy groups wanting money, could you live with 99% of what we gave you last year, almost everybody says yes. It is so reasonable to most people in America unless you happen to be an elected official in Washington."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.