Rand Paul Speaks To Reporters After 'No' Vote On Senate's 'Big Not-So-Beautiful Bill'

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) spoke to reporters after voting "no" on the Senate's version of the Big Beautiful Bill.

Transcript

00:00So, you know, the big, not-so-beautiful bill has passed now.

00:05The one thing that's for certain is that next year the deficit will be bigger than this year.

00:09The bill includes over $500 billion in new spending,

00:13and at the end, to get the vote of the Alaska senator,

00:16billions and billions and billions more were added.

00:21At least $50 billion was added for a hospital fund in the end.

00:25We don't have any of that money. All of it's borrowed.

00:27All of that spending will have to be borrowed,

00:30and this bill will lead to a much greater deficit over time,

00:34and I don't believe it's seriously responsible.

00:36Did they try and convince you to vote for the bill by trying to do something different with the debt ceiling?

00:41I had told them all along that I would consider voting for it

00:44if we separated out the debt ceiling or reduced it.

00:47A couple weeks ago, I offered to extend the debt ceiling for three months,

00:51which is about $500 billion.

00:52I offered that again, and there was a time in which they had to make a decision

00:57dealing with me and reducing the debt ceiling or giving pork and subsidies to Alaska.

01:04They chose to add more pork and subsidies for Alaska to secure that vote.

01:09You talked to your House colleagues.

01:10Do you think there could be some that will vote against this?

01:13I think they're going to look at it and see that it's much less conservative

01:16than it started out to be, and it's going to add much more to the debt.

01:19And so I think without question, this is not a fiscally conservative bill,

01:24and if you're someone who thinks the debt is a problem,

01:27I don't see how you could vote for this in the House.

01:28What do you make of the process overall?

01:30Do you think it was too rushed, sir?

01:31Go ahead.