Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky) introduced a bill that would cut $500 billion in government spending by the end of 2011 and eliminate all funding for the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
“I am proud to introduce my own solution to the mounting debt our spendthrift, oversized government has accrued. By rolling back to 2008 levels and eliminating the most wasteful programs, we can still keep 85 percent of our government funding in place,” Sen. Paul said on Wednesday.
According to the bill, HUD’s current funding level is $53.082 billion for FY 2011 and Paul would like to bring it down to zero. “By removing programs that are beyond the constitutional role of the federal government, such as education and housing, we are cutting nearly 40 percent of our projected deficit and removing the big-government bureaucrats who stand in the way of efficiency in our federal government.”
The bill would also eliminate all funding for the Department of Energy, International Assistance Programs, and makes cuts in other agencies, including the Department of Agriculture as well as the Department of Education.
As far as HUD is concerned, Paul said that policies perpetuated by the agencies played a key role fostering subprime lending that brought the financial system to its knees in 2008. “By implementing policies that expanded risky mortgages to under qualified borrowers, HUD is directly implicated in the loss of over 1 million homes in 2008,” said a report published by Paul.
A spokesperson from HUD said they had no comment on the bill.
To view a copy of the bill, see here.
