Sen. Paul Introduces Bill That Would Wipe Out HUD Funding

Newly installed Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul has introduced a bill that seeks a $500 billion reduction in budget cuts, including a 100 percent decrease in funding to the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD). The verbiage of the bill calls for all accounts and programs of HUD to be "defunded" if the bill were to take effect. The bill, however, does have a provision transferring the veteran programs administered by HUD to the U.S Department of Veterans Affairs.  “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,” said Sen. Paul. According to Sen. Paul's overview of the bill: "Policies perpetuated by HUD and its related agencies played a key role fostering sub-prime 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 one million homes in 2008." In response to President Barack Obama's Jan. 25th State of the Union Address, Sen. Paul noted that he has plans to introduce legislation that would allow for a full audit of the Federal Reserve. "We must take a critical look at the Fed’s monetary policy decisions, because it is more crucial than ever that we have real transparency with our central bank and the way the American people’s money is being spent," said Sen. Paul. “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." Click here to view a copy of Sen. Paul's proposal.