Kentucky's U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers and Sen. Rand Paul were on the receiving end of boos from their fellow conservatives last week, but for different reasons.
Scoffing at Rogers' proposed $35 billion in spending cuts, newly elected House Republicans demanded more.
That sent the appropriations chairman and dean of Kentucky's congressional delegation scampering back to the chopping block.
Rogers promised to assemble cuts that he had earlier warned would be too extreme and that would furlough air traffic controllers, lay off law enforcement officers and return the Food and Drug Administration to funding levels of 20 years ago.
Meanwhile, Kentucky's freshman senator and Tea Party hero was the target of some boos when he called for cuts in defense spending while addressing the Conservative Political Action Conference, a high-profile confab of the political right.
Paul, who criticized Rogers' cuts as too timid, said, "We will have to look long and hard at the military budget."
Paul is right, if the goal is to balance the federal budget without any tax increases.
To read the complete editorial, visit www.kentucky.com.
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