Palin: More budget cuts needed

WASHINGTON, March 11 (UPI) -- Sarah Palin, former governor of the biggest per capita recipient of federal aid, says Republicans need to be bolder about cutting U.S. spending.

Talking to conservative talk-show host Sean Hannity on Fox News, Palin cited a plan by freshman U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., that would slash the budget by $500 billion in the first year.

"I'm kind of embarrassed for some of the GOP --- for them to be assuming that the American public believes that this is a serious discussion when we're only talking about $54 billion in cuts that they have on the table," she said Thursday, removing $7 billion in cuts from Congressional Republicans' actual $61 billion. "We need much greater cuts."

Palin, who resigned as governor of Alaska without serving a full term, continued to be coy about her presidential ambitions. She said she would wait and see how the Republican field shapes up before making a final decision about 2012.

"Thinking along those lines is unconventional for me because I have never waited for anybody else to line up and then I jump in at the end," she told Hannity. "But in this case, because it is so monumental and so affecting on a family, I probably would wait to see who is willing to put their name forward in the hat who are willing to serve this country."