This “principled libertarian” supports the spendthrift grifter Donald Trump as if he’s his fourth wife. But this is how he reacts to a national public health crisis:
Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul voted against an emergency response coronavirus bill Thursday afternoon after his proposed amendment to the bill was turned down.
The bill had already received more than 60 affirmative votes, which was more than it needed to pass, when Paul voted against it. The bill passed 96-1.
The U.S. Senate voted earlier to table an amendment from Paul after the junior senator from Kentucky threatened to hold up the legislation if his amendment did not receive a vote.
The House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to approve $8.3 billion in emergency aid on Wednesday to combat the novel coronavirus, which has caused 11 deaths in the United States so far.
Before a scheduled Thursday afternoon vote on the bill, Paul put forth the amendment, which proposed cuts to State Department Cultural Exchange programs and reduces funding for the United States Agency for International Development, among other things.
Speaking from the Senate floor Thursday morning, Paul said that “I think we should not let fear or urgency cause us to lose our minds and cause us to act in an irresponsible fashion.”
“I’m not opposed to the emergency funding, but I think the emergency funding should be gotten from elsewhere in the budget,” Paul said.
“We want to respond and make sure we are providing resources to our medical professionals and researchers,” he added. “That’s important, and I support that.”
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., spoke in opposition to Paul’s amendment, saying that it would “decimate programs that fund the foreign policy priorities of both the administration and the Congress.”
The Senate ended up voting 80-16 to kill the amendment, with a vote on the coronavirus bill scheduled for 1:45 p.m. on Thursday.Think big. Read local.Subscribers get exclusive news about local investigations and politics.
Previously, Paul said he would hold up the coronavirus bill if he did not have the chance to present and get a vote on his amendment.
“If we don’t get the amendment, we can stay here all weekend for all I care,” Paul told Trish Turner of ABC News on Wednesday.
“We will have an amendment to pay for it,” Paul told me. “We’ve talked to the powers that be and let them know…that we’ll have an amendment to offset it. If we dont get the amendment, we can stay here all weekend for all I care.” Paul says he thinks he’ll get a vote, though.
Read this fatuously tone-deaf bullshit from Paul’s spokesperson:
Kelsey Cooper, Paul’s communications director, told The Courier Journal on Thursday that Paul was “elected to the Senate because Kentuckians know he will always put them first, and that means holding government accountable for wasteful spending that would be much better served funding dire and immediate issues here at home.”
“Sen. Paul understands the importance of funding specific issues, especially emergency needs, which is why he has consistently provided solutions to pay for them, as is the case today with his amendment,” Cooper said.
What a show-boating nincompoop. If we can afford to spend billions on unnecessary military spending and Trump’s stupid wall — which, you’ll notice, Paul didn’t tap for any money — we can afford to spend what it takes to keep millions of people from coming down with a novel virus and a bunch of elderly and health compromised citizens dying. He’ll do anything to be contrarian jerk.
Let’s see how this plays when the virus hits Kentucky. And it will.