Rand Paul Says Republicans Should Apologize To Barack Obama For Criticizing His Spending
During a Wednesday appearance on Fox News Channel’s Your World, Republican Sen. Rand Paul, known for his hardline stance on government spending, took aim at his fellow conservatives for their excessive borrowing and spending and past criticism of Barack Obama’s financial excesses, Breitbart reported.
Paul began his attack by pushing back on the notion that Republicans and Democrats in Washington are unable to compromise. According to the lawmaker, both parties come together in favor of disbursing money that America doesn’t have.
“So, we were already running a trillion dollars short just with our normal budgetary expenses for the year,” he said. “We added $3 trillion. Now they’re talking about another $1 trillion to $2 trillion. We’re going to borrow $5 trillion in five months.”
The Libertarian-leaning lawmaker pointed to conservative criticism of George W. Bush borrowing $5 trillion across an eight-year time period and noted that the federal government is now planning to borrow $5 trillion in five months. He later took aim at his colleagues for their past criticism of Obama’s appropriations and overspending and highlighted their hypocrisy.
“He was a piker compared to their borrowing that they’re doing now. So, yes, these Republicans, they should have to apologize, and they should, by law, be forbidden from ever saying that they’re fiscally conservative. That’s just tongue in cheek.”
As reported by Fox News, Paul took particular issue with unemployment benefits, which his Senate colleague Ted Cruz previously suggested was making it more difficult for businesses to keep hold of their workers. The 57-year-old politician slammed the extra unemployment money provided amid the coronavirus pandemic, which is giving some Americans more money than when they were working, and claimed it is effectively institutionalizing unemployment.
“Even President Obama didn’t do that,” he said.
The lawmaker ended his televised appearance by doubling down on his warning against excessive appropriations and spending and arguing that the economy should be allowed to reopen and operate as usual.
“We had a great economy until the government mandated this depression.”
In an op-ed for the Mississippi Business Journal, Bill Crawford noted that Republicans are letting Donald Trump spend more than Obama. He highlighted that Obama’s most significant deficit was $1.4 trillion and said Trump’s might exceed $3 trillion.
Although Marco Rubio attempted to justify such excesses by pointing to the unprecedented times, Crawford noted that Obama presided over the Great Recession, which was a similarly devastating crisis to America. The Texas writer concluded by questioning whether the GOP would be able to avoid accusations of hypocrisy in the lead up to November’s elections.
