Speaking for Tea Party, Senator Rand Paul spreads the blame

WASHINGTON (REUTERS) - US Senator Rand Paul blamed Republicans and Democrats for heavy government spending in an address responding to President Barack Obama's State of the Union speech on behalf of the small-government, fiscally conservative Tea Party movement.

"Both parties have been guilty of spending too much, of protecting their sacred cows, of backroom deals in which everyone up here wins, but every taxpayer loses," Mr Paul said on Tuesday.

Mr Paul, the son of former Republican Texas Representative Ron Paul, a libertarian and three-time presidential candidate, won his Kentucky Senate seat with strong support from the Tea Party.

Despite being a relatively junior senator, Mr Paul, 50, has established himself as a strongly conservative voice on Capitol Hill, notably by telling then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last month that he would have fired her over the September attacks on the US diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya.