Rand Paul rips ‘shameful’ budget plan

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said he would oppose the budget deal announced Tuesday because it trades sequester cuts now for the promise of future reductions. 

Paul said it would be “shameful” to increase the funding levels outlined in the budget sequester — breaking with Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), a possible rival for the White House in 2016 who negotiated the deal for the GOP.

{mosads}”The small sequester spending cuts were not nearly enough to address our deficit problem,” Paul said in a statement. “Undoing tens of billions of this modest spending restraint is shameful and must be opposed. I cannot support a budget that raises taxes and never balances, nor can I support a deal that does nothing to reduce our nation’s $17.3 trillion debt.”

Paul and Ryan are both potential presidential contenders in 2016. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), another White House contender, also opposes the deal. 

Paul opposed the fiscal-cliff deal earlier this year and the bill that reopened the government in October. 

The freshman senator — carefully citing his sources after a plagiarism controversy last month — used a line made famous by a character in the Popeye comic strip.

“There is a recurring theme in Washington budget negotiations,” he said. “It’s ‘I’ll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today.’ I think it’s a huge mistake to trade sequester cuts now, for the promise of cuts later.”

The deal agreed to by Ryan, the House Budget Committee chairman, and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), his Senate counterpart, on Tuesday night would replace $63 billion in sequestration cuts over two years and would set a top-line spending number just over $1 trillion for each of the next two fiscal years. 

Republican leaders in the House have come out in support of the plan.