Rand Paul Announces Conservative Alternative To Biden-McCarthy Debt Ceiling Deal — Here's What The Senator Proposes

Just a day before the debt ceiling bill is scheduled to hit the floor, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) announced his conservative alternative to the deal agreed to by President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. The alternative will be offered as an amendment to the so-called "Fiscal Responsibility Act" deal and would replace existing language with responsible reforms and necessary cuts, Paul said in a statement.

"Sixty percent of Americans say Congress should only raise the nation's debt ceiling if it cuts spending at the same time. I would guess the Americans answering that poll meant real cuts in spending, not an annual increase of one percent above already bloated levels of COVID-19 spending," Paul said.

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Contours: The amendment replaces the blanket two-year suspension on the debt ceiling with a $500 billion hike. It also replaces the caps on discretionary spending with caps on total spending that cuts 5% spent each year.

The alternative also stated if the government continues to spend at current rates, the plan would trigger an automatic $302 billion cut in FY24 and another $241 billion cut in FY25. If the government adhered to these caps for five years, by FY28 it would have the first balanced budget since 2001, it said.

The plan also creates a mandate that growth in federal outlays may at no point exceed the growth in revenue from the previous fiscal year.

Meanwhile, in a win for House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, the debt ceiling bill surpassed an important hurdle on Tuesday evening as the powerful House Rules Committee reportedly voted seven to six to advance the bill to the floor.

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