INDIANAPOLIS – The Senate today strongly voted down a toxic budget proposal authored by the senator whom Rep. Braun said he’d emulate in Washington, but it’s unclear whether the Indiana Republican would support his hero’s budget that would gut critical programs.

A bipartisan majority in the Senate today voted down Rand Paul’s (R-KY) budget proposal, which would cut $13 trillion in federal spending over 10 years, by a vote of 21-76. The Paul budget would gut Medicare and Medicaid and ultimately necessitate deep cuts to Social Security. This isn’t the first time that Senator Paul’s budget has failed — a similar proposal brought before the Senate last January was so toxic that it earned the support of just 14 Republican Senators.

Rep. Braun, however, is a strong admirer of Senator Paul and has made clear that Senator Paul would be whom he’d most closely emulate in the Senate if elected. Rep. Braun has also expressed support for drastic cuts to federal spending and a willingness to gut Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, so his support for the Paul budget if elected would not be surprising.

“Rand Paul’s cruel budget proposals and its drastic cuts to Medicare and Medicaid are too toxic for even most Republicans,” said Michael Feldman, spokesman for the Indiana Democratic Party. “Yet Rep. Braun’s infatuation with Senator Paul and his willingness to gut these programs suggests that he might follow Paul’s lead to deprive millions of Hoosier seniors from their rightfully earned benefits. Would Rep. Braun side with Hoosiers, or his hero?”

###