Ron Paul returned to Washington, D.C., on Wednesday to vote down President Obama's request to increase the debt ceiling by $1.2 trillion.

On the House floor this afternoon, Paul pleaded with his fellow legislators to follow his lead.

"You can't solve the problem of debt by accumulating more debt," said Paul.

Living within our means is a central theme of Paul's campaign. The Texas congressman often rails against frivolous domestic and foreign expenditures on the stump. The message is often accompanied with sobering predictions for America's financial future.

"If we don't do something, we will be forced under very dire circumstances, because we cannot bail out the world," Paul told his House colleagues.

Paul, the only current member of Congress actively seeking the GOP nomination, took swipes at both Democrats and Republicans for contributing to the ballooning deficit.

The Texas congressman also blasted the largely symbolic vote, calling it a "really very mixed effort to try to curtail spending."

"This power of the president to ask for a debt increase and then we have to get two-thirds of the Congress to prevent this from going up … this is a creature of Congress."