During consideration of a budget resolution to establish “the congressional budget for the United States Government for fiscal year 2025” (House Concurrent Resolution 14), Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) offered an amendment to reduce the increase in the national debt limit in the bill from $4 trillion to $500 billion. The debt limit is the maximum amount the federal government is allowed to borrow.

The Senate rejected Paul’s amendment on April 4, 2025 by a vote of 5 to 94 (Roll Call 179). We have assigned pluses to the yeas because Congress should cut spending rather than raise the national debt limit, which was $36.1 trillion at the time of this vote. Of course, though raising the debt limit $500 billion is better than raising it $4 trillion, it should not be raised at all. In fact, by restoring constitutional government, spending would be reduced to the point that the U.S. government once again could operate on a surplus and the national debt would be reduced.