Specific proposal · Inclusion is not endorsement
Senator Rand Paul — 2026 Six Penny Plan
Status: Proposed Senate budget resolution, announced September 22, 2026. Not enacted. A budget resolution sets Congress's own spending and revenue targets; it is not signed by the President and does not by itself change any program.
What we checked: Announcement checked: the September 22, 2026 press release text was compared with indexed copies of the senator's page (his site blocks automated tools, so the official page itself still needs a manual look). Underlying resolution not yet confirmed: the senator's office posted a draft (no resolution number), and Congress.gov lists a Paul budget resolution for fiscal 2027 (S. Con. Res. 39, August 7, 2026). We have not confirmed which text the September 22 announcement refers to, so we make no section-by-section or dollar claims about the legislation.
What Senator Paul proposes
- A federal budget resolution that, in the senator's words, would "balance on-budget outlays and revenues within five years by cutting six cents off every dollar projected to be spent over the next five fiscal years."
How the spending reductions would work
- According to the announcement, first-year spending would be 94% of current levels, and reductions of 6% a year would continue until balance is reached in year five.
- After year five, the announcement says spending would be allowed to rise at the same pace as revenues for the following five years.
- The announcement does not, on its own, show which programs would be exempt or how the cuts would be divided. That detail lives in the resolution text, which we have not yet matched to this announcement.
The stated goal: balance within five years
- Balance "on-budget" revenues and outlays within five years. On-budget excludes Social Security and the Postal Service, which are counted off-budget. Reaching on-budget balance is therefore not the same as ending all federal borrowing.
What would have to be true to meet that goal
- Future Congresses would have to pass spending bills and program changes that actually hit the lower targets each year. A budget resolution sets targets but does not enforce cuts by itself.
- Revenues would need to grow roughly as projected. A slowdown or recession would lower revenues and push balance further away.
- Interest rates would need to behave roughly as projected; interest costs cannot simply be cut by Congress.
Possible economic effects and implementation challenges
- Analysis: if enacted and sustained, lower spending would mean less borrowing and lower future interest costs than under current law.
- Analysis: sharp, fast cuts reduce government demand in the economy in the short run. Economists disagree on how large that drag would be and how much lower borrowing would offset it over time.
- Implementation challenge: most federal spending goes to mandatory programs and interest. Large percentage cuts would likely require changing benefit programs, not only annual appropriations.
Major criticisms and tradeoffs
- Supporters argue: a simple, transparent rule spreads restraint across government instead of targeting a few programs, and acts before interest costs grow further.
- Critics argue: uniform cuts ignore differences in program value and need, could affect services and benefits people rely on, and have historically been hard to sustain politically.
- Tradeoff: faster deficit reduction lowers long-run debt risk but raises short-run economic and political risk; slower paths carry the opposite tradeoff.
Is there an independent budget analysis?
- We have not found a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) cost estimate or other independent score of the 2026 Six Penny Plan. Until an independent estimate exists, the five-year balance is the sponsor's projection, not a verified outcome.
The sponsor's projections — not independently verified
- Five-year on-budget balance — the sponsor's projection.
- "At more than $40 trillion, the national debt now costs every household nearly $300,000 and adds $7 billion a day" — the sponsor's statement, not checked by us. (Gross federal debt above $40 trillion is consistent with Treasury data shown elsewhere on this site.)
- "Interest payments on the debt now exceed what America spends on national defense" — the sponsor's statement, not checked by us here.
Sources
- Senator Paul's office — September 22, 2026 announcement (page at an unusual web address) — Primary source named by LastTrillion's editor.
- Senator Paul's office — same announcement, standard address — Text matches the quotations above.
- Draft resolution posted by the Senate Homeland Security committee (PDF) — Unnumbered draft; not yet matched to the announcement.
- Congress.gov — S. Con. Res. 39 (Sen. Paul, fiscal 2027 budget, August 7, 2026) — Not confirmed to be the September 22 plan.
Last reviewed: October 9, 2026