But he also doesn't want to default on payments to U.S. bond holders.
Rather than raise the debt ceiling, he wants to see cuts in military spending and sales of some American assets — such as gold reserves.
"They’re worrying about raising the debt limit," said the Texas congressman. "I’m worried about the value of the dollar" especially if the Federal Reserve continues to "print money" whenever it wants.
"They try to pump up the fear and scare us into doing things," he said of the government, adding that was how the bank bailouts came about. "Aren’t we defaulting if the dollar is worth 90 cents this year?"