Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said Tuesday that a plan by which Republicans in the House would vote "present" and allow Democrats to raise tax rates would ultimately be better than agreeing to a "fiscal cliff" compromise so that Republicans wouldn't have ownership of a potential economic recession.
"I think if we go halfway, or we split the difference with him, then both parties have their hands on it," Paul said during an appearance on Fox News. "When we go into recession, it'll be confusing."
Paul said the so-called "doomsday plan," under which Republicans would allow Democrats to repeal the fiscal cliff's automatic cuts and increase tax rates, with the intention of fighting for entitlement cuts during a debt-ceiling negotiation in early 2013, could be politically opportune.
The Republican senator said the tax-rate increases would become, like the president's signature healthcare reform, "a Democrat juggernaut."
"Their fingerprints will be on it, ours won't," Paul said.
The freshman senator also bemoaned what he saw as an unwillingness for Congress to address needed austerity efforts.
"As long as we're spending $3 million to study what monkeys do when they're on methamphetamine, that means we haven't started cutting up here," Paul said.
Paul also insisted his objections were practical, not ideological.
"If I thought raising taxes were going to be good for the economy, I'd say 'do it.' But I think it will be the opposite," Paul said.
