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Feb. 26, 2025 - Ron Paul Liberty Report
24:15
There They Go Again...House Republicans Break The Bank With Budget Bill

The Republicans are back...and they are in the mood to spend! Last night's vote on the smoke and mirrors budget bill proves that Congress is absolutely unserious about cutting spending in any meaningful way. Also today: new poll shows Americans WANT the government to be cut!

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Americans Rebelling? 00:09:23
Hello, everybody, and thank you for tuning in to the Liberty Report.
With us today, we have Daniel McAdams, our co-host.
Daniel, good to see you.
Good morning, Dr. Paul.
How are you this morning?
Doing doing well.
Doing well.
Good.
Rady and Raring to go.
Let's do it.
Because Republicans are on a tear.
You know, they took over everything.
Yeah.
And they have been, they're going to cut and stop all the wars.
And it's all good.
Some of it, I think, is being expressed by some very serious people, and they really would like to do it.
Yes.
But I've always retained a bit of skepticism because I've heard those promises a few times before, and they were sincere.
And yet the momentum of big government and dependency on government is tremendous momentum.
I don't know how many times in history it's actually been reversed.
You know, even if you look at the Roman Empire, you know, when they had a republic, you know, it was insidious that it was, you know, continuous picking away at it until they became a dictatorship in the Roman Empire.
So I don't know what we want to call ourselves now.
All I know is the government does not resemble the size and scope of what the founders intended with the Constitution.
We have not taken their advice.
And yet, the people, it may be the people who are actually rebelling.
Maybe the news media reporting that they're really upset with Trump and trying to cut, trying to cut.
Maybe there's some of them around there and say, we've had enough.
And I always use the example.
Some of them got that way about COVID.
And then more and more people realized the ballgame was over.
But a recent budget was a big, the first big indicator on how the Republicans would do.
And I guess you have to first, you know, give them credit.
They live in a world where they're the real world and they have to pass something.
And they don't have much of a majority.
Does that mean a majority of the American people aren't for it?
It might mean the American people haven't had, they haven't been able to get their people in Congress.
But anyway, it's a mess.
And this was a big test.
I would say that maybe a sincere effort by a few, they get a positive grade.
But for success and not listening to what is really going on and knowing what's happened, happening and understanding what has to be done, we have a ways to go.
But still, we encourage them.
There are people wanting to cut and it's on the table.
People are getting angry who think they're going to get cut.
But it's very early in this new administration.
But I don't think it'll take many more butts for us to know even more about what's going on.
And yet we have learned a little bit already.
Yeah.
Well, you made a good point.
This is the first test because the last month or so, we've heard about Doge.
We've heard about all this massive waste that has been in the has just rot just below the surface of government, how disgusting it is, the things that are being paid, the people that are getting rich for doing terrible things with our money.
And they have basically given the Americans the appetite for, let's cut this out.
This is awful.
This is a cancer.
So this is the first test.
And as you say, I wouldn't want to be Mike Johnson, the Speaker of the House.
He has to put something up that will pass.
However, when you look at what was passed and who held out, I would say that this is not a day to cheer necessarily if you like what Doge is doing.
Now, the thing that struck me looking at this, Dr. Paul, is now I didn't follow budget stuff that closely when I worked for you on the Hill.
That was Norm and Paul Martin and all those guys.
But I do remember overhearing over and over again the phrases.
This is going to be a real cutting budget.
It's going to reduce the pace of increase.
Remember that?
Reduce the pace of increase.
The other one is, yeah, we're going to spend a little bit more for a few years, but then five years down the road, some cuts will kick in, honest.
Trust us.
And the other one, which was an absolute gimmick, was, okay, but with every spending bill, you have to put a little note saying, we're in the Constitution.
This is authorized.
Remember that?
You've talked about that on the show.
All of the smoke and mirrors gimmick to get a big budget passed.
And that's what they've done.
And yet, if you look at the curves, government growth, government spending, penalty to the middle class, because most taxes are collected as a regressive tax through the destruction and the value of the dollar.
Not many people talk about that, but it really is dumped on the middle class.
And so the progressives make a point, even though they don't have any understanding of economics.
They say, oh, the rich get richer because of whatnot, and they shouldn't be this rich.
But they never explain it that the welfare, whether it's going to poor people, rich people, middle class people, or whoever gets it, it's that deficit that counts.
But I think that this is what is a climactic ending to this, because I think people know this can't last.
Although that's been said before, but I think this is the greatest warning and observation has been made in my memory where people, I mean, this stuff is in here, this malinvestment, mal spending, and all the special interests.
Yeah, that was always there.
I remember William Broxmeyer used to come up with one item every weekend, and he called attention to it.
And I like that because he wasn't a conservative Republican.
He was a Democrat that thought that maybe they ought to cut out that nonsense.
And that's been around a long time.
There was Robert Taft, who was a fiscal conservative and didn't believe we should be in NATO and fighting these wars.
But I think what they do so often, I see a little bit of this.
They look at the end point of spending, how much is spending, how much is left over, and what can we do on the surface rather than saying, well, maybe the reason we spent too much in the military-industrial complex is because we don't believe that the wars being fought by our government has the proper authority.
They just start them and then the Congress rolls over.
How much do you need?
We have to defend the troops.
And it becomes a patriotic issue.
If you don't support these unconstitutional wars, yeah, you could be in political trouble like that.
But I would like to think to some degree, some of those positions I took didn't hurt me quite as much as people were telling me.
Yeah.
And I think what's depressing in a way is that that is shifting.
That perception is shifting.
If you don't support all these overseas deployments, you're not American.
It's actually shifting.
And people are opposed to it.
They want the troops to come home.
You're looking at poll after poll.
They don't want foreign aid.
They don't want us meddling around overseas.
This is a great opportunity to do it.
Well, let's look at what we're talking about.
Now, this is the hedge right up.
There's plenty of others out there, politico and what have you.
House passes GOP budget despite midday revolt.
There were a handful of Republicans who didn't like what was they called conservative hardliners who didn't like what happened.
They got a phone call from the president.
They got a little bit of a, you know how this works, Dr. Paul.
They bring you in the room.
They try to strong arm you.
They try to grab you by the shirt and tell you, you better do it or the world's going to end.
Well, everyone peeled away except for one.
I'll go to that next clip.
There's only one who refused to be bullied by the machine into betraying his principles.
And that is, as we know, Thomas Massey.
And here's the final vote.
217 Republican yeses, one Republican no.
I'm sure that looks familiar to you, Dr. Paul.
And Thomas Massey's comment when he reposted the final vote, I do not cave.
And that is a great point.
So hats off again.
This is the Thomas Massey week.
We're going to give him another hats off for what he did.
Do you think he worries about the next election?
He just had an election, didn't he?
And I think his people liked him.
Yeah, yeah, they do.
He's become a real hero.
For sure.
Well, here's some particulars on the bill, Dr. Paul, that are bad.
Now, this is the Hill that's being actually written about in the Hedge.
I looked at the original Hill article, but I thought this was a good write-up.
Some of the particulars that are bad.
And you'll recognize a lot of this terminology, Dr. Paul.
The House's resolution lays out a $1.5 trillion floor for spending cuts across committees with a final target of $2 trillion.
Ooh, that sounds good.
As well as a $4.5 trillion, this is the key, a $4.5 trillion ceiling on the deficit impact of any GOP plan to extend Trump's 17 tax cuts.
Now, here's the part that's important.
The Hill, it also includes $300 billion in additional spending on the border and defense.
I know this is the one that's really important, as well as a $4 trillion debt limit increase.
I think that paragraph is all you need to read about it.
Yeah, well, but if they're going to limit the debt, limit an increase, at least that's doing something, but that doesn't even occur.
$4 Trillion Debt Limit Increase 00:13:15
It never occurs on what the increase is going to be.
And all they need to do, budgets are always terribly looking, but it also says that that's not the end of things.
I mean, we're in the middle of a fiscal year right now, and they're making this doing the budget.
So no matter how neat the budget might look, and even with some sincere effort, there's always an emergency.
There will always be a hurricane, or there will be an epidemic.
There will be an imaginary epidemic, and there will be undeclared wars.
And it goes on.
They're attacking us.
They're attacking us.
They're going to bomb our cities.
You better get ready.
Housing crisis.
There'll be another housing crisis.
Yeah.
On and on.
And yet there are problems out there, but they don't talk about the real problems.
Why are there homeless people?
Is it because they're all really lazy?
A lot of them are struggling because the understanding of how inflation works, prices go up much faster for the lower class people, the middle income and low-class income income.
If they go up percentage-wise, much worse.
And bread prices, I don't think the average person making a couple billion dollars a year really cares that much about the price of bread.
But there's people in this country that do, or they're medical expensive.
How about their true school expenses?
People, and you might even know a little bit about this.
How do you get your kids through college these days?
You know, that is, that is, you know, when they compare it to what I had, I can't believe the change, you know, because, you know, I worked my way through college.
It's part-time, but I can't brag about it.
I didn't make money, but I wasn't billed very much.
Now, now all that stuff is out there.
So these are big numbers and there's promises made.
And I really don't take it away from everybody as being insincere and planning.
But believe me, there are plenty of those kind of people away.
They're protecting their own little appropriation.
And They're paying a lot of money on lobbying.
Yeah, maybe they should put out some numbers on how much money is being spent on lobbyists.
That would be interesting, yeah.
A couple bucks.
Well, I want to go.
I'm sorry, I just think we have a bonus clip that I want to put up.
I had to send it in late because I was looking for this number and I didn't have it.
I finally found it at the very end.
That's why we were a little late today.
But if you can do that, oh, here's now.
This is good.
Now, this is now this is someone on X responding to someone saying how great it was.
Oops, I covered it.
Oh, we're losing it now.
Okay, I don't know what's happening.
But what it says is if we can get that back up, that bonus clip.
I don't know if that's if we have that there.
So, what it says, anyway, here we go.
Sorry, 2 trillion in cuts over 10 years.
The deficit still remains around 2 trillion per year for the next 10 years and increases our national debt by 20 trillion dollars.
Unbelievably weak, said Chris Maidman.
His comment was on it.
Um, and he actually brought the receipts because he clipped the part of the bill that proves what he was saying.
Now, you can talk, you can look at these deficits, these deficits over the years, over 10 years.
So, you're going to be adding tons and tons of trillions of dollars to the debt over 10 years, yet you're selling it as a great fiscally responsible budget.
Um, you'd wonder about the people who put those numbers down, they have to know it's all a big, it's a farce.
Well, let's listen, yeah.
Let's listen to Thomas Massey.
This is a long clip, but it's definitely worth it.
One of the reasons it's way longer than we usually do, it's about two minutes.
But he explains the process as we remember it so great.
And let's if we can cue that up.
I know I see smoke coming from the back because everyone's working so hard, but let's listen to Massey.
Can you just talk to us?
Are you still a no?
Is there anything they convinced me?
In there, I'm a no.
Look what let me let me their own numbers.
If the Republican plan passes under the rosiest assumptions, which aren't even true, we're going to add $328 billion to the deficit this year.
$295 billion to the deficit the year after that, $242 billion to the deficit after that, under the rosiest assumptions.
Why would I vote for that?
Throw you solidly a no.
Yeah, they convinced me.
I was at lean no until this meeting.
Now, this no convincing is not why, what, why talking points?
Look, look, this is these are not something I made up.
This is from this is the leadership's talking points.
It adds $328 billion to the deficit.
It adds $295 billion to the deficit the year after that.
The only way they get to this magic thing where it's not going to kill our country is five years from now, they imagine that 2.5 percent growth accumulates, and that even right here, they say they're going to cap discretionary spending.
You think we're going to cap discretionary spending and then spend at the rate of the rate of inflation after that?
That has never happened, so their assumptions are wrong.
But even if you take their assumptions at face value, they told us in there they're going to increase the deficit in 2025 by 328 billion dollars.
And I've been here long enough, I've been here 12 years, so I've seen a 10-year plan or two come all the way to 10 years.
Under Boehner, we had these 10-year plans, under Ryan, we had these 10-year plans.
But anything past the third year never happens.
Okay, we can cut that.
I've seen these 10-year plans.
By the way, it's during the big years of the Soviet system.
They always had their economic plans and they came out.
And this sounds almost as fictitious or more so because it's more deceitful because they pretend they're on the on the side of free markets and prosperity and great things.
But it's another plan, another plan.
But we have to, what we have to do is get people to voice their opinion.
Because if the people don't wake up and say enough is enough, and that's what we're hoping we're seeing, we want to contribute to that because things can change.
And I think Trump would have to admit maybe that's why he did well.
He was tapped in to this anger and resentment.
So I think that's a good thing.
And that means that we're not dead and gone.
We just have to wake up some more people.
Yeah.
And we'll hear the second story that we're going to cover today reinforces this point that Massey's making, that you're making, that America understands this is genuinely popular.
Now, skip that next one.
We'll do that and go to the Harvard polling.
This is a Jonathan Turley article.
Our good friend Jonathan Turley.
He puts out an article today.
According to a Harvard poll, the majority supports Doge majors to reduce the size of government.
He says, as the courts hash out the legalities of the orders supporting the Department of Government Efficiency, the public appears to support the effort despite almost universal condemnations in the media.
So this is a recent Harvard CAPS Harris poll about the population's attitude toward this.
Go to that next one.
Here's the important numbers, Dr. Paul.
What was interesting, this is Turley in his article.
What was interesting amid the ongoing judicial and legislative fight is that, and I highlighted this, 83% of voters preferred cutting government spending to raising taxes.
Some 77% also supported a broad review of government spending.
A massive 70% believe government spending is rife with waste and fraud.
And 69% support cutting spending by a trillion dollars.
60% of voters said that Doge is carrying out the need of the government to make significant cuts.
Really, it's now or never for the government to do it.
The people are behind them.
Wouldn't it be interesting to have an honest vocal progressive liberal, you know, to ask, do you support this?
Why don't you support this?
This makes sense, but oh no, it'll be all right.
They'll come up with some crazy scheme.
It makes no sense whatsoever.
And it's, you know, we've talked a whole lot about COVID and a lot of weird things came out of there while they repealed science.
And later on, they found out.
But I don't know whether they seem to be on a different wavelength.
Maybe their brands are different.
Because they come up and, well, why are you worried about this?
You know, we've had deaths before and we work our way out of it.
And yet they think that if they can just tax rich people just because they're rich, not because they stole the money from the government, then all the government has to do is pass more money out.
Everybody's going to be happy.
And I don't think it works that way.
Well, let's look at a pie chart because I think it's pretty dramatic in what it shows.
This is from that Harvard poll, Harris poll.
Overwhelming majority of voters say government should reduce government expenses over increasing taxes.
Now, that's the one on the left.
You can see the blue is reduced spending.
The red is increased taxes.
That's very, very obvious.
And the other one on the right, do you think that we are in need of a full examination of all government expenditures or should we not get in the way of current contracts and expenditures?
77%, massive piece of the pie, wants these things to be looked at.
And it goes even further if you go to that next poll, because this is a poll about Doge.
Most voters agree with having a government agency dedicated to efficiency.
That left pie chart is, do you think there should be a government agency focused on efficiency initiatives?
72% in that blue says yes, absolutely.
The one on the right, do you think the so-called Department of Government Efficiency led by Musk is helping make major cuts in government expenditures or not?
60% say that it's helping.
It's helping make these expenditures.
It's pretty dramatic.
And there's going to be, I think, Dr. Paul, a narrow window of opportunity for them to make these cuts.
I think it's fantastic what has been revealed.
And that's why these polling numbers are changing, because people didn't realize it could be this bad.
So they're waking up to that fact.
But in the article, of course, says there should be a broad review of government spending.
77% agree with that.
And that is good.
But I tell you what, there's some hidden spending that they have to deal with.
And it's a hidden tax.
And it's called a printing press where you print money.
So you don't have to, you know, if they put that in there, they can't really, you know, look into this if they don't look into the worst of all taxes.
And that's the inflation tax.
Just print money when you need it.
That's why they don't sweat this.
That's why they can't explain it because they know darn well that the Federal Reserve is actually a friend to big government and the Congress and big business too, because they, but they know they never talk about it, but that's where it is.
So if they ask me for advice and I'm not holding my breath, I would make that point.
Yes, this is good.
Broad review of all government spending.
But maybe there's some invisible shenanigans going on.
And I think it's in the monetary system.
Absolutely.
Well, I'm going to close out, Dr. Paul, and glad to be able to praise Massey again.
But I want to thank everyone for watching.
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I have to do thumbs down and thumbs up again just so I can see it go up myself.
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Hit Thumbs Up! 00:01:26
We're not on Team A or T B, T M R or T D. We're talking about the principles, and that's important.
And sometimes people get angry that you're not on the team.
Well, that's our job.
That's Dr. Paul's job.
That's what it's been his job for a long time.
So thanks for watching.
And over to you, Dr. Paul.
Well, you know, our meeting, our conference that we're having may be something very special because this year it is different.
The atmosphere is different.
The polling is different.
People are waking up and it seems like they're getting in the right mood.
So I think it's the responsibility of an organization, even though we may have been saying these things, I still put blame on ourselves because the message is so powerful and not complicated.
Why aren't we doing a lot better?
So I always think, how do we refine this?
How do we get people energized?
And I think, well, one thing we do is think about how we can have the best conference and the best people come along and explain these things from people, especially who are new to the ideas of the technicalities of liberty.
And the information is there.
There's a modern approach to it.
There's new things come along and people have new ideas.
But really, the contest between good and evil and freedom and slavery, that's been around a long time.
And our founders tried to keep it straight for us to know that it would be best for us to pick the side of liberty if we were looking for peace and prosperity.
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