One Republican senator is proposing a move that may cost himself and his colleagues their jobs if enacted.
Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) is proposing a constitutional amendment that would expel all members of Congress whenever inflation is over 3 percent.
‘I’m drafting a constitutional amendment To oust every member of Congress Whenever inflation exceeds 3% It’s better to disqualify politicians Than for an entire nation to suffer under the yoke of inflation Please let me know what you think And share if you like the idea,’ Lee posted on X Wednesday evening.
Lee’s proposal gained praise from billionaire Elon Musk, who, borrowing a line from the Star Wars Mandalorians, reposted Lee’s idea for the amendment with a comment of ‘This is the way.’
Lee’s idea is one that has previously been articulated by another billionaire – Berkshire Hathaway chairman Warren Buffet.
In a decades old video clip, shared by Lee, Buffet says ‘I can end the deficit in five minutes. Just pass a law that says that any time there’s a deficit of more than 3% of GDP, all sitting members of Congress are ineligible for reelection.’
Lee is one of several Senate Republicans who doesn’t support President Donald Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ of a spending package which is currently headed to the U.S. Senate after being passed by the House of Representatives back in May.
Lee and Musk also joined forces earlier in the week to describe the bill as ‘debt slavery’ in a back and forth exchange on X.
Lee and Musk also joined forces earlier in the week to describe the bill as ‘debt slavery’ in a back and forth exchange on X
The U.S. inflation rate is currently 2.31 percent, but was at the 3 percent mark in January when Trump took office.
Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is another member of Trump’s own party who opposes the substantial additions to the deficit included in the current Republican spending package.
New additions to the the national debt are a non-starter for Paul, who has noted that he does want to see the 2017 tax cuts made permanent.
Utah Senator Mike Lee in Washington, D.C. on January 24th, 2023.
Elon Musk in Folsom, Pennsylvania, on October 17, 2024.
Senator Rand Paul on Capitol Hill, Thursday, April 3, 2025, in Washington
Paul has also described the current $5 trillion in new debt as ‘Biden spending levels.’
‘This will be the largest increase in the debt ceiling ever in our history. We’ve never raised the debt ceiling without meeting the target. You can say it doesn’t directly add to the debt but if you reach the ceiling you’ll meet that. We won’t discuss it for a year or two. I think it is a terrible idea to do this’ Paul told Fox News.
Appearing On CBS’ Face the Nation last weekend, Paul told host Margaret Brennan that the math in Trump’s ‘big beautiful bill’ ‘doesn’t really add up.’
‘Well, the math doesn’t really add up. One of the things this big and beautiful bill is, is it’s a vehicle for increasing spending for the military and for the border. It’s about $320 billion in new spending,’ Paul said.
In a nod to Musk and his budget slashing efforts across federal agencies, Paul compared the spending package with the funds anticipated to be saved by spending cuts pushed for by the Depart of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
‘That’s more than all the DOGE cuts that we found so far. So, the increase in spending put into this bill exceeds the DOGE cuts. When you look just at the border wall, they have $46.5 billion for the border wall,’ Paul said on Face the Nation.