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The spending proposal the freshman senator outlined Friday would put the nation on a path to a balanced budge five years faster than the plan that House Republicans adopted last week. The unveiling came as the Senate was debating a Democratic budget that would leave a major deficit even after 10 years.

The House Republican budget, authored by Rep. Paul Ryan, the 2012 GOP vice presidential nominee, would spend $3.5 trillion next year and $41.5 trillion over the next decade, compared with tax revenues of $3 trillion in 2014 and $40.2 trillion over 10 years.

Mr. Paul’s budget would spend $3.2 trillion next year and $37.6 trillion over ten years, compared tax revenues of $2.5 trillion in 2014 and $37.9 trillion over 10 years.

Mr. Paul’s budget allocated $526 billion for national defense in 2014 and $5.6 trillion for national defense over the next 10 years. The House GOP budget, meanwhile, sets aside $579 billion for national defense in 2014 and more than $6 trillion over the next 10 years.

Mr. Paul, as well as GOP Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas, and Mike Lee of Utah, joined Democrats Thursday in voting against the Ryan House budget — arguing that the plan did not go far enough in getting the nation’s fiscal house in order.

I ain't no economist*, but the budget process has been out of whack since the 1974 deal that did away with "0" base budgeting in exchange for what has happened since, which is that there is a statutory built-in increase over the last budget ... somehow making the last budget the base. WTF? Over.

E.G., even in "Sequestration," the Feds are spending more money than last time. A slow-down in the rate of the increase of a budget is called a "cut."

It is generally conceded (IIRC) that an efficient government ought to reasonably consume about 15-16% of a nation's GNP. Soooo .... WTF is wrong with trimming the government to fit that number? There are indeed whole departments that we could well do without. In fact, we prospered through 2 centuries without them!

The last time we had a budget, it consumed well over 20% of GNP, and we're on track for 30% ... like Greece.

*But unlike Joe Biden, I did stay in a Holiday Inn Express. BTW, most elected reps are (failed) small town lawyers who know less about economics than even I! The Mombasa Kid is, among other areas in which he appears to have no basic knowledge, economically illiterate. He also was a lawyer, but unlike most Congress Critter lawyers, he was asked off the Bar in Illinois ... permanently!