During an interview with Bloomberg on Wednesday, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said that he won’t vote for a supplemental bill and “the biggest threat to our country and to our national security is our debt. And so I think adding more to our debt doesn’t make us safer. It actually will make us more in danger to be further in debt.”
After Paul voiced his objection to Congress not weighing in on Operation Epic Fury, host Joe Mathieu asked, “So, will that make it difficult for you to vote to support a supplemental budget request, assuming that does arrive, as we’ve heard?”
Paul answered, “I think the biggest threat to our country and to our national security is our debt. And so I think adding more to our debt doesn’t make us safer. It actually will make us more in danger to be further in debt. So, the administration has said they want to increase the budget by 50%. That sounds like a large increase from a trillion to 1.5 trillion. And then, in the meantime, they may ask for another 50 billion or so, maybe 100. They’re already talking about, well, we’ve got to give the farmers some money, the tariffs aren’t so good for farmers. And instead of removing the tariffs that are hurting the farmers, they’re going to give the farmers some money. And then they’re like, well, we’ve had some disasters around here. So, we’re going to do military, disasters, a stipend for the farmers since the tariffs are hurting them. It’ll be a mess, and it’ll be something that anybody who’s fiscally conservative will not support.”
Mathieu asked, “So, you’re a no regardless of the number, it sounds like?”
Paul responded, “Yeah, no, because we — right now, our military, we spend more on our military than the next ten countries combined. So, for people to argue we’re not spending enough, we’re spending more than the next ten countries combined. We spend plenty on our military. It needs to be spent wisely, but they’ve spent an extraordinary amount on two wars. We’ve had two wars in one month. For goodness’ [sake], they’re talking about another war with Cuba, as we speak. So, yeah, they cost money. They cost lives, most importantly, but they also cost money. And I’m just not for — I’m not — I wasn’t for the war in Venezuela, I’m not for the war in Iran, and I’m certainly not for a war with Cuba.”
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