The bipartisan budget deal reached by Sens. Chuck Schumer and Mitch McConnell should have sailed smoothly through the Senate Thursday night with a shutdown looming, but Sen. Rand Paul decided that the time was now to tackle out-of-control spending.
BREAKING: Sen. Rand Paul holds up votes on the budget deal, says Republicans and Democrats are 'spending us into oblivion.'
— The Associated Press (@AP) February 8, 2018
BREAKING: The White House is telling the federal govt to prepare for a shutdown.
Republican congressman Rand Paul is holding up the vote on a new budget, which needed to be passed by now to keep the govt running.
— AJ+ (@ajplus) February 9, 2018
Sen. Rand Paul on the new senate spending bill: "If you were against President Obama's deficits, and now you're for the Republican deficits, isn't that the very definition of hypocrisy?" https://t.co/EPCvGs13hW pic.twitter.com/24yiMZ7ZqG
— ABC News (@ABC) February 8, 2018
Rand Paul: "I want people [lawmakers] to feel uncomfortable. I want them to have to answer people at home who said 'How come you were against President Obama's deficits, and then how come you're for Republican deficits?' Isn't that the very definition of intellectual dishonesty?" pic.twitter.com/1XzbK3N6r3
— Greg Giroux (@greggiroux) February 8, 2018
"I think the country is worth a debate until 3 in the morning" – @RandPaul #StandWithRand pic.twitter.com/VOsZUnpwAu
— FreedomWorks (@FreedomWorks) February 9, 2018
What does Paul want? A vote on an amendment to restore the budget caps set in 2011.
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Sources: leaders will not give Rand Paul his amendment vote. Shutdown, for at least some period, now likely reports @Phil_Mattingly
— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) February 8, 2018
Someone manning Paul’s Twitter account laid out the argument in tweets:
I ran for office because I was very critical of President Obama's trillion-dollar deficits. Now we have Republicans hand-in-hand with Democrats offering us trillion-dollar deficits.
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) February 8, 2018
Is it any wonder, that our debt now exceeds $20 trillion? Over fifty years ago, Senator William Proxmire began handing out Golden Fleece awards for wasteful spending. Fifty years later nothing has changed. The wasteful spending, if anything, is worse. pic.twitter.com/cSYbruhmlO
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) February 8, 2018
When the Democrats are in power, Republicans appear to be the conservative party. But when Republicans are in power, it seems there is no conservative party.
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) February 8, 2018
The National Science Foundation helped fund a study to figure out whether Neil Armstrong used the preposition “a” on the moon. The State Department gave One TV, a for-profit Afghan television station 850K to support a cricket league. Am I the only one outraged by this nonsense? pic.twitter.com/7jcVwU1vNL
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) February 8, 2018
This kind of ridiculous waste goes on decade after decade. Read more on the waste reports here: https://t.co/VlK4BG7khK pic.twitter.com/L7iRtbpeJe
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) February 8, 2018
Would you voluntarily give your money to the federal government for things like this? Wasteful spending is riddled throughout government and this deal just adds to the problem. pic.twitter.com/dMIk8cNR9u
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) February 8, 2018
When both parties are happy, they're usually looting the Treasury. And that's what this bill does.
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) February 8, 2018
Government's job is not to get you stuff, or to get somebody else's stuff for you. It's to preserve your liberty.
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) February 8, 2018
As we look at this debate, my hope is that both sides will come together and say, "Enough's enough. This is the time. Tonight I say no."
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) February 9, 2018
Stand with Rand?
This! @RandPaul is single-handedly blocking the Senate's insane spending bill! https://t.co/g2kPF2wkvi @reason @EricBoehm87
— Nick Gillespie (@nickgillespie) February 9, 2018
.@RandPaul calling out #TheSwamp on the Senate floor right now. Crushing these wasteful SOBs claiming to represent America ??.
Bravo Senator. Drain away. Proud to call you my friend.
— Eric Bolling?? (@ericbolling) February 8, 2018
Senator @RandPaul is making a whole lot of sense right now on Senate floor. He's ripping the band-aid right off & simply delivering one hard truth after another. He's probably upsetting a ton of people for this, but so much of this really needed to be said & just as he said it!
— Lee Zeldin (@RepLeeZeldin) February 8, 2018
Not everyone’s impressed.
Lots of lawmakers pissed at @RandPaul right now for holding this budget deal up. "Someone needs to fly his neighbor up here," says one
— Scott Wong (@scottwongDC) February 9, 2018
Uh oh — the guy that broke five of his ribs?
* * *
Update:
House GOP leadership advising House members next votes "very roughly between 3-6 am"
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) February 9, 2018
Tillis not happy with Rand.
"You can make a point all you want but points are forgotten. There aren’t a lot of history books written about the great points of the U.S. Senate."— Erica Werner (@ericawerner) February 9, 2018
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