Rand Paul slams McConnell’s ‘outrageous’ support for standalone foreign aid bill

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on Friday criticized Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell for his “outrageous” support for the Plan B foreign aid bill, which was proposed with border security provisions removed. (Kentucky Republican).

He specifically criticized his Senate colleagues for focusing on additional aid to Ukraine and Israel, where wars continue, instead of addressing the border crisis.

“It’s criminal to send $100 billion overseas to fix someone else’s border before Mitch McConnell, Chuck Schumer, and Joe Biden come together and address our own border problems. It’s negligent,” Paul said in an interview with FOX Business’ Larry Kudlow on Friday, calling the idea “outrageous.” ”

Paul counters Biden’s remarks that it would be “negligent” not to provide aid to Ukraine and negotiate a deal to fund foreign governments’ troops without resolving the U.S.-Mexico border dispute He said it was reprehensible.

In a vote Friday night, the Senate voted 64-19 to consider the bill, which was stripped of border provisions by Mr. Schumer of New York, after only a handful of Republican senators voted in favor of the original bipartisan bill. I proceeded.

Paul vowed Friday to delay a vote on the $95.3 billion bill after branding it “rotten.” In response, Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pennsylvania) called him a “peckerhead” for forcing his colleagues to go through the process from Friday night through Super Bowl weekend to pass the funding measure. called.

“We have an emergency. We have an invasion,” Paul said in an interview Friday. Highlighted by Mediaite. “In the last two months he has gathered 700,000 people and they are willing to take advantage of it. They put out a fake offer, but it had no effect. I We shot it down.”

“But that doesn’t mean we’re ready to give it up. Many of us want to fight,” he argued. “Thirty-two of the 48 people, or three-quarters, said they wanted to keep fighting and actually fix the border before sending $100 billion overseas.”

A bipartisan border security deal that took months to negotiate fell apart and was partly fabricated by Paul’s conference colleague, Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.).