Rand Paul thinks a debtor nation shouldn't lavish gifts on other countries. Washington disagrees.

The Kentucky senator talks about his crusade to rein in foreign aid, one of the government's most unpopular programs

Rand Paul believes in giving less to foreign countries to save Americans from debt.
(Image credit: The Associated Press)

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released dire new debt projections Tuesday, an announcement which, if history serves as any guide, will do nothing to alter the course of our spending morass.

There is plenty of blame to be laid at Washington's feet for this march toward profligacy. But it also must be admitted that the general public is incessantly fickle about trimming federal outlay. Oh, we overwhelmingly like the idea of cuts in the abstract, but when it's time to place specific programs on the chopping block, it's all awkward side glances and cricket sounds.

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Bonnie Kristian

Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.