Wonkbook: Rand Paul’s rough interview

By Ezra Klein and Evan Soltas, WashPost, Updated: August 9, 2013

This is not a very impressive interview Sen. Rand Paul conducted with Bloomberg Businessweek’s Josh Green.

For instance:

A recent article in the New Republic said your budget would eviscerate the departments of Energy, State, Commerce, EPA, FDA, Education, and many others. Would Americans support that? 

My budget is similar to the Penny Plan, which cuts 1 percent a year for five or six years and balances the budget. Many Americans who have suffered during a recession have had to cut their spending 1 percent, and they didn’t like doing it, but they were able to do it to get their family’s finances back in order. I see no reason why government can’t cut 1 percent of its spending.

So that’s not actually an answer. Paul’s budget eliminates the Department of Commerce. It also eliminates the Department of Education. And the Department for Housing and Urban Development. And the Department of Energy. The State Department gets cut by more than 50 percent.

(More here.)