Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) slammed the Republican Party for abandoning the fiscal discipline it once championed, while accusing his colleagues of embracing massive governmental deficits and greenlighting spending levels they previously opposed.
GOP’s Fiscal ‘Decimation’
In an interview with Reason’s Nick Gillespie on Thursday, Paul said Republicans voted for a spending legislation that they once campaigned against, calling it “a decimation” of the party's stated principles.
According to Paul, Republicans reopened the government using the same spending framework they previously opposed under former President Joe Biden, and he said that the numbers haven't been altered at all, before being approved without any real objections.
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“The levels of spending that the Republicans have all voted for will equate to a $2.1 trillion deficit,” he said. He also noted that “when they voted for the big beautiful bill, they voted to add $5 trillion to the debt ceiling.”
The Senator from Kentucky who rose to prominence during the Tea Party movement expressed deep frustration at what he sees as the near-collapse of the fiscal restraint that once animated the GOP. “I can't describe how disappointing it is to me,” he said.
Paul argued that without a course correction, the party's commitment to balanced budgets and limited government could face extinction.
Pointing to Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), who, like him, opposed President Donald Trump’s “One Big, Beautiful Bill,” Paul warned, “If they get Massie and myself, there's no libertarian wing left of the party.”
Paul Criticizes Trump’s Tariffs
Paul has been a vocal critic of Trump’s tariffs, recently warning of “Farmageddon” across America’s agricultural heartlands, saying, “Right now, farmers are faced with chaos,” due to the same.
Referring to the tariffs as taxes, Paul also drew upon America’s founding principles, saying, “It’s in our DNA” to rebel against taxation without representation, while quoting economist Adam Smith’s arguments against British trade restrictions on American colonies.
He has also slammed Trump’s decision to acquire stakes in private companies such as Intel Corp. (NASDAQ:INTC), warning that it sets a dangerous precedent of government ownership in the private sector.
“It's a step toward socialism,” he said, while warning that government involvement in private business takes away the forces “that breed excellence.”
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