Ron Paul to Pause from Campaigning in South Carolina for Debt-Ceiling Vote

Shields taxpayers and future generations from costly Washington enlargement, irresponsibility

LAKE JACKSON, Texas – 2012 Republican Presidential candidate Ron Paul will pause from his active South Carolina campaign schedule to return to Washington for a vote denying President Obama’s request for a debt-ceiling increase.  The 12-term Congressman from Texas will travel to the nation’s capital tomorrow, Wednesday, and return early Thursday morning for the final three days of campaigning.

On January 12th, Obama announced his intention to exercise early an option to increase the debt-limit, and to do so in the amount of $1.2 trillion.  His option to do so was created under a 2011 budget agreement that created a near-automatic debt-increase mechanism, the use of a disastrous unconstitutional “Super Committee,” and other means of helping Congress shirk their core mission of managing the federal government’s purse-strings.

Tomorrow, House Republicans, Blue Dog Democrats, and other budget hawks have an opportunity to voice their displeasure at the spendthrift habits of the administration and those of their peers in a resolution refusing to grant Obama the right to exercise his option.  The vote, then, separates the true budget hawks from the tax-hikers and the borrowers, and helps frame the debate by forcing the Democrat-controlled Senate to support Obama – or compelling Obama to step way out in front and demand a credit card increase of $1.2 trillion in taxpayer money at a time when the national debt surpasses national GDP.

Paul’s campaigning in the Palmetto State has been vigorous, with speeches to the South Carolina Tea Party Convention and the Faith & Freedom Coalition Presidential Kick-Off, and participation in last night’s Fox News presidential debate.  Today Paul also is holding town hall meetings in Spartanburg and Rock Hill.

Paul’s campaigning was also fruitful.  On Sunday he picked up the consequential endorsement of state Sen. Tom Davis (R-Beaufort), who earlier today joined Paul for a press conference at the South Carolina State House where Paul picked up additional key endorsements from state Sens. Lee Bright (R-Spartanburg), Kevin Bryant (R-Spartanburg), and Danny Verdin (Greenville).

“The issue of debt and spending are uniting Republicans and independent voters to stand up and say ‘enough.’  The Washington establishment has for far too long gambled away Americans’ hard-earned wages while going so far as to present the children and grandchildren of workers with a dim future saddled with debt,” said Ron Paul 2012 National Campaign Chairman Jesse Benton.

“Ron Paul is taking real action to stop the debt wherever he can while his rivals for the Republican nomination pay only lip service.  Tomorrow’s vote will divide leaders into two starkly different camps: the tax-and-spend establishment, and the true reformers who want to roll back decades of government enlargement, overreach, and irresponsibility.  Voters this election cycle, we trust, are savvy and can distinguish between smooth-talking politicians and the one candidate of authentic change, Ron Paul,” added Mr. Benton.

In addition to his South Carolina campaign successes, Ron Paul released his new ad ‘Three of a Kind’ concerning the serial hypocrisy, counterfeit conservatism, and flip-flopping of his rivals Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, and Mitt Romney respectively.