Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., argues Senate Republicans who voted for the bill are ‘no better than the Democrats,’ calls on Americans to ‘elect better people.’
This is an unofficial transcript meant for reference. Accuracy is not guaranteed.
Have a good one:
Griff
Griff Katie thanks our next
guest lighting up the Senate
floor just before lawmakers
voted on the nine hundred dollars billion
stimulus bill,
Senator Rand, Paul blasted, his
fellow Republicans as no better
than socialist in his now viral
speech. Watch
this bill is free money for
everyone.
Maybe these new free money,
Republicans should join the
everybody, gets a guaranteed
income caucus to so called
conservatives who are quick to
identify the socialism of
Democrats. If you vote for this
spending, you are no
better
PETE with more is the
republican senator from
Kentucky Senator Rand Paul
Seattle Merry Christmas? Thank
you so much for being here with
us
a lot of people good morning, a
lot of people loved what you had
to say on the Senate floor
react to the recent developments
because its been exposed. How
much pork is in this when you
tie an omnibus to an emergency
bill like Covid 19, everyone
throws their perogatives of
Washington into the bill.
Is there a way in which, if some
of that was stripped out, you
could support one time
additional payments to
individuals beyond six hundred or is it
both that you object to sir?
You know it be great if
there were actually that
alternative. If they said, oh
well, quit spending money on
selfies to see if selfies make
you happy or well quit
spending money on the mating
call of fogs, but guess what they
never do, that
they always add it.
No one ever takes away any
spending and thats my big gripe.
It is, of course Festivus. So I
can tell you why im unhappy
with all these jokers, but the
thing is they never takeaway
wasteful spending, they only add
more to it, and the bottom line
is the only way we recover this
economy. Is we got to open
the economy up?
Unemployment is actually lower
than it was during most of
President Obamas term, so we
really can recover, but we got to
get these governors out of the
way of our restaurants and
our bars, and our menus we got
to get the economy opened up is
the only way we survive. This
senator one of the
most important things I
think you said in that floor
speech is that Congress is
enabling lockdown behavior from
Democrats who have taken this
way too far in terms of
stifeling their own economies.
But in the meantime President
Trump last night said he wants
two thousand dollars checks going out.
Is that something that the
Senate and Congress can do
before next week?
You know I saw the
presidents speech and weve
actually included it this
morning as part of our
Festivus celebration, because
he was on a rant, and so am I.
He was unhappy with all of the
spending to Pakistan and Su
Dan and all of these far
flung places when we arent
taking care of our own.
The problem is if we were to get
more money to Americans. We
would add it on top
if it were either slash or it be a
little bit different situation,
but I can tell you from
experience in Washington these
jokers never replace spending
ive asked for it all along
ive asked look if you want to
build infrastructure in our
country, quit spending
fifty dollars billion a year on
infrastructure in Afghanistan,
but I never get them to bite.
Theyll, add it on, but never do
the responsible thing and
exchange wasteful spending for
useful spending.
Griff senator ive long said
that fiscal conservatives is now
an exhibit at the Smithsonian to
go and see from the 90s, because
both parties are spending like
drunken sailors. It seems in the
last decade or more, but my
question to you this morning is:
what do we do at this very
moment?
Pete talked about it a little
bit earlier this morning about
whether something could actually
be done or does what the
president has done now put
Mitch Mcconnell and Republicans
in a very difficult spot here at
the end of the year
yeah. The thing is, you need
better people.
There was only six or seven of
us who opposed this, but if you
ask the american people, should
we spend money we dont have?
Should we run a balanced budget?
Ill bet you? Seventy five percent of Republicans
will tell you they would rather
have conservatives in Washington
the people in Washington Run as
conservatives like when
President Obama was in power.
They said it was terrible, the
spending and the debt and
all of this and now theyre no
better.
I told people in my speech that
its not that the difference in
parties is Adam Smith versus
Marx,
its really Marx versus Ingles,
and I dont think theyre happy
to hear that. But they are always
talking about socialism, and so
am I, but that bill yesterday was
a bunch of socialist spending
and if you voted for it, youre
no better than the Democrats so
thats. The problem we have
people need to get involved in
primaries and elect better
people, but the people in
Washington are bankrupting us.
Both parties
PETE its hard to refute, but
you say there senator when its
a 5593 page bill that you have
the six hours to attempt to read,
which of course means nobody
reads. It and leadership has all
of the perogatives and their
give away.
Youve been front and center and
trying to expose this for years
and youve got a Festivus report,
which we can confirm is your
favorite holiday.
Here is a portion of some things
in there, ten billion on botched
covid, 19, test tubes, lizards
walking, I mean that seems like
it has to be fake, but I dont
think it is walking on
treadmill finance, a taxiway for
airplanes on Nantuck
et Island hot tubs,
see if they reduce stress, which
we all know, of course, is true,
but I dont know why we need to
study it.
What shocks you the most when
you go through our budget and
realize how much money were
wasting
here, is one of the worst.
The national Science Foundation
spends about eight billion every
year and
William Proxmeier started
complaining in the early 1970s.
One of the first projects was
back then fifty thousand dollars to study. What
makes you happy
well last year they spent about
a million inflation. I guess
about a million and if you take
a selfie of yourself while
smiling, and then you look at it
later on, will that make you
happy
thats the kind of stuff your
governments doing? We got to
bridge thats broken over the
Ohio River
weve wanted a new bridge for ten
years, and we spent money to
Pakistan for gender studies. My
goodness sakes, we cant build
our own country because were
too busy rebuilding everybody,
elses country
its. What President Trump has
always gotten right
its. Why President Trump got all
these new blue collar workers,
because theyre, sick and tired
of sending money shoveling it
overseas and they wanted here at
home. But the thing is the
establishment Republicans. I
call them the big government
Republicans they never were on
trumps side, and you can tell
you know he butts heads with
them. They, like the spending and
theyve, been doling it out. Ever
since theyve been up there- and
I dont know how it ends until
we get new people up there,
PETE true Senator im going to
try that study right now on the
air and smile
Griff, laughter,
PETE, look at it later on the
program and see if you feel
better
ill, be in a hot tub
later. So, if you want to send me
two dollars million to study, stress that
be great
senator Paul, we are dealing with
a pandemic. Obviously the
vaccine has been rolled out.
You criticized Congresswoman
Alex Andrea Ocasio Cortez for
getting the vaccine ahead
of our vulnerable population and
shes now responded to you.
Do you have a response to her?
Well, the thing is that I
think the most vulnerable should
get this all along. I think we
should have been protecting the
most vulnerable.
Now we have a way to protect
them, and until everybody in the
nursing home who has not got
a vaccine, gets one until 80
year old, 70 year old, 60
year old, 50 year old 40
year old gets one. Aoc should
be at the end of the line
waiting her turn because shes
at very, very low risk, but were
not using any science here. So,
for example, ive also said: if
you have it, you should be at the
end of the line.
Ive had it, so I might be a
little higher risk than AOC, but
im a much lower risk than an eighty five
year old in a nursing home
who doesnt have it yet so
really what we need to do is pay
attention to immunity. The thing
is: if youre in the nursing, home
and youve had it, we should
give it to the other patient in
the nursing home who hasnt
we have million like eighteen million
people who have had it,
they do not immediately need it
im not saying they cant take
the vaccine at some point, but
they really dont need to be
first in line.
Lets get the most vulnerable
done before we get to the least
vulnerable,
Griff and Senator id. Finally,
just add: we need our members of
Congress senators and
representatives vaccinated, so
they can be in Washington
working here on important
legislation.
I want to just leave it by
putting you on the spot here.
If the president does veto this
legislation, will you vote
to override
you know? The thing is: is
that I hope he vetoes it, but the
only way I would vote for
any spending or any
additional spending is if it
came out of existing spending.
So if they want to cut the
thirty dollars billion, we shovel and
send overseas im happy to vote
for that, and we can discuss
where we can spend it here in
our country.
I think there are a lot of
things but giving money to
people who are already working.
My kids are working and dont
need a check.
They arent rich, but they dont
need a check and most working
Americans dont need a check
right now.
Its a really foolish egg headed
left wing socialist idea to pass
out free money to people. So I
part ways with the president on
giving people free money.
We should help those who are
unemployed by extending
unemployment, but we shouldnt
add to unemployment.
There are things we can do.
Look in two thousand and eight President Obama
extended unemployment and they
didnt juice it up by giving
people more money not to work
than they were so weve done a
lot of terrible ideas that are
much worse than what we
criticized. President Obama.
President Obama is now a
conservative when it comes to
stimulus because his
unemployment he just extended
it,
we didnt give cash payments
back then, but the cash payments
is a ridiculous, terrible foolish,
no good idea, because you are
just printing out money to give
to people.
Why not do it all the time give
people a thousand one thousand, why
not a million and its a
terrible idea that ruins the
value of our currency?
Ultimately
PETE its a scary world, where
former President Obama is a
fiscal conservative,
Senator Rand Paul? Thank you. So
much
appreciate your time.
Griff. Thank you. Senator.
Transcript generated on 2020-12-23.