Free Republic

With all the talk about a possible government shutdown due to an impasse on immigration reform, no one seems to be paying attention to a story of even bigger long-term consequence. Congress is preparing a two-year budget that blows past bipartisan spending caps to the tune of $216 billion through 2019. These are the latest stunning tallies from an analysis by Congressional Quarterly. (See chart). That may be a best-case scenario. The budget watchers at Freedom Works estimate that when hurricane disaster relief, funding for the border wall, added Obamacare money for the bankrupt insurance markets, and other last-minute spending...

Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) met with Jake Tapper on CNN's State of the Union Sunday morning to discuss the government shutdown and who deserves the blame for Capitol Hill's current quandary. Paul, a libertarian who tends to stray away from conventional GOP thinking, offered a "doable" solution that allows the legislative process to work itself out. Paul said the American people see though "partisanship and gamesmanship," when politicians claim the opposing party does not want to fund the military and pay our soldiers. "Republicans and Democrats and everybody trying to say 'Oh, you don’t want to fund the military', everybody wants to...

The neighbor of Sen. Rand Paul who is accused of attacking the Kentucky Republican has been charged with a federal crime, the Department of Justice announced Friday. Rene Boucher, 58, of Bowling Green, Ky., has been charged with assaulting a member of Congress, resulting in personal injury, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana Josh Minkler announced. On Nov. 3, Boucher allegedly "had enough" after seeing Paul stack brush onto a pile near the senator's property, according to court documents. Boucher then ran onto Paul's property and tackled him, leaving him with six broken ribs, the documents state. Paul...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 17, 2018 Contact: Press@paul.senate.gov, 202-224-4343 ICYMI: Dr. Rand Paul: ‘President Trump Has Had a Year of Accomplishments’ WASHINGTON, D.C. – In his latest op-ed for TIME, U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) looked back on President Trump’s achievements during his first year in office. “I do not always align with President Trump — and I have voiced my opposition at times, including voting against some of his nominees and initiatives. But I will tell you, he has had some great success through his first year, and I look forward to what 2018 will bring,” Dr. Paul stated...

Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that charges of racism against President Donald J. Trump are unfounded in part because of the 45th president's large financial contribution to Dr. Paul's2015 Haiti medical mission trip. “I think it’s unfair to sort of paint him, ‘oh well, he’s a racist,’ when I know for a fact that he cares very deeply about the people of Haiti because he helped finance a trip where they would get vision back for 200 people in Haiti,” Paul said. In 2015, Rand Paul was part of a group of U.S. doctors who...

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul brushed off suggestions that President Trump holds a racial animus against Haitians because he once supported Paul’s trip to the Caribbean nation to do eye surgeries on poor Haitians. Paul said on NBC’s “Meet The Press” Sunday that Trump donated money to a medical mission trip Paul took before he was president. Paul did about 200 surgeries on Haitians that allowed them to see while he was on the trip, and he said that’s evidence Trump isn’t prejudiced against the country. “It is unfair to draw conclusions from a remark that I think wasn't constructive is...

On Wednesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “Wolf,” Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) stated that while he will vote for money for barriers along the border, he’s still a fiscal conservative and won’t vote to spend $40 billion on these barriers.

Nick Freitas, the liberty-minded conservative who is challenging Senator Tim Kaine in Virginia, has just been endorsed by Senator Rand Paul — who referred to the former Green Beret as “the real deal.” The Gateway Pundit spoke to Freitas following the endorsement to find out more about where he stands on the issues. “Nick Freitas is the real deal and I urge liberty conservatives and those who believe in the constitution and limited government to rally to his cause and campaign,” Senator Paul said in a statement provided to the Gateway Pundit on Friday. “Through his involvement in politics and...

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul (R) praised President Trump on Monday for his tweet calling for an end to aid to Pakistan, telling Trump he "couldn't agree more" with Trump's assertion that the country shelters terrorists on the run from U.S. forces. In a tweet Monday afternoon, Paul responded to Trump's first tweet of 2018 in which the president sharply criticized Pakistan's government. "I couldn’t agree more. I’ve been fighting to end aid to Pakistan for years and will again lead the charge in the Senate. Let’s make this happen @realDonaldTrump," Paul tweeted. I couldn’t agree more. I’ve been fighting to...

Perhaps, just perhaps, being cautiously optimistic, we appear to be gaining momentum toward a massive dose of sunlight on the 2016 FBI/DOJ “Trump Project”. In the interview below, Senator Rand Paul outlines his concerns with the intelligence use of FISA warrants and then drops a verbal MOAB right in the middle of the interview. After he outlines the general FISA concern, Senator Rand Paul cuts straight to the heart of matter and righteously points to the increasing evidence that the DOJ and FBI were in collusion against a presidential candidate. Must Watch:

On November 3, 2017, a man entered the private property of a sitting U.S. senator uninvited. He snuck up behind and assaulted the senator with such violence that he broke six ribs and damaged the senator's lungs, leading to pneumonia and severe pain. These injuries prevented the senator from returning to Congress for a crucial debate in which he played a leadership role. If a right-wing assailant had broken the bones of Nancy Pelosi or Chuck Schumer, sending either of them to a pain-filled hospital bed, the outcry from both sides of Congress would have been ear-shattering. The left-wing media...

The attack that left Republican Sen. Rand Paul with six cracked ribs outside his Kentucky home came after a long-simmering disagreement with a 17-year neighbor over grass clippings, according to a report. An acquaintance of both men said the fellow doctors stood in their yards about 10 years ago and shouted at each other about grass clippings that Paul’s lawn mower sprayed onto Boucher’s property, the Washington Post reported. The feds said they are investigating the case, in which Boucher could be charged under federal statutes that include a provision that bars assaults on members of Congress and other high-ranking...

The tax cuts President Trump is working on with Republican leaders in Congress have a major problem. Charles J. Sykes explains in the L.A. Times: The tax plan helps balloon federal deficits, and it does nothing to address the rising costs of entitlements as the population grows older and sicker. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimates that the proposed GOP House tax cuts would “result in debt reaching the size of the economy by 2028 and exceeding its post-World War II record a year or two later.” The Congressional Budget Office estimates that even without those tax cuts,...

In his first interview since being attacked outside his home earlier this month, Sen. Rand Paul said he thinks politics may have been a factor in why he was targeted by his neighbor. “It may have some relevance, but for the most part, the real question should be are you allowed to attack someone from behind in their yard when they’re out mowing their grass?” Mr. Paul, Kentucky Republican, said on Fox News in an interview that aired Tuesday.

Although people increasingly suspect that President Trump's tax cuts aren't going to happen — ever — the president himself still has faith in his team and fellow Republicans to get it done: [Tweet by President Trump] Republicans have been working on these cuts for months, but so far all their efforts have been to no avail. One of the main reasons for the delay is that libertarian-leaning conservatives like Senator Rand Paul couldn't support the original plan because it would do nothing for the middle class — and could potentially even raise their burden. Trump was reportedly angry when he...

One of the fundamental problems in Washington is the attitude that the money that people make belongs to the government. That’s why you hear arguments about how much a tax cut “costs,” or big government advocates disingenuously and breathlessly complaining about the people who pay taxes getting a tax cut. I believe it is the other way around. Our default position should be that the money you earn belongs to you, and government has to justify why it should take it from you. Currently, there are at least 97 different federal taxes. The tax code that instructs people how they...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2tY7lD3TAw

Sen. Rand Paul on Monday announced he plans to vote for the Senate tax plan as it currently stands, handing GOP leaders a key “yes” vote ahead of a potential floor vote later in the week. Mr. Paul said he’d like the tax cut to be even bigger than the nearly $1.5 trillion price tag, but that he’s pleased lawmakers included a repeal of Obamacare’s individual mandate in the plan. “I’m not getting everything I want — far from it,” the Kentucky Republican wrote in an opinion piece for Fox News. “But I’ve been immersed in this process. I’ve fought...

MSNBC’s Kasie Hunt seemed happy that Republican Kentucky senator Rand Paul suffered six broken ribs and a buildup of excess fluid in his lungs when he was attacked earlier this month, before quickly apologizing for her on-air statement. “New details today on the incident that left Senator Rand Paul with six broken ribs – this might be one of my favorite stories,” the liberal reporter said last week. The MSNBC host quickly seemed to realize she was condoning violence and started to downplay her comments but appeared to lose her train of thought midsentence, saying, “Although, of course, we don’t…...

It's been 19 days since Rand Paul was attacked by a neighbor while mowing his lawn. And on Wednesday, the story got even stranger as the wife of the Kentucky Republican Senator wrote a piece for CNN detailing the extent of the injuries he suffered in the attack. "There have been several nights where I had my hand on my phone ready to call 911 when his breathing became so labored it was terrifying," writes Kelley Paul of her husband. What's even more striking is how Kelley Paul describes the attack -- and the motive behind it... In the immediate...