Meltdown: Paul storms out of Homeland Security markup after clash on amendments

thehill.com ^ | 3/15/2023 | alexander bolton

[bitt]

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), the ranking member on the Senate Homeland Security panel, abruptly walked out of a committee markup Wednesday morning after clashing with the panel’s chairman, Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), over amendments.

Paul vented his frustration over Peters’s use of procedural tactics to effectively shield Democrats on the committee from voting on Republican amendments to the Fire Grants and Safety Act.

Peters offered second-degree amendments to the Republican-sponsored amendments that completely gutted their content.

At one point, Paul suggested that all the Republican members walk out of the committee meeting.

“If this is the way you’re going to run the committee, I would suggest that Republicans leave. I don’t see why we should stick around if you’re going to make up the rules,” Paul said hotly.

The atmosphere in the room got so tense that Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.), who left the Democratic Party to become an Independent in December, suggested that “we all take a couple minutes, lower the temperature, just figure out the procedure.”

“There’s no need for us to turn this committee hearing into a partisan, ugly place like we’ve seen in other committees,” she pleaded.

Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and James Lankford (R-Okla.) stayed in the room to vote against the amendments modified by Democrats after Paul walked out.

The acrimonious scene was a departure from how the Homeland Security Committee operated in 2021 and 2022, when Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) served as the panel’s ranking member.

[MayflowerMadam]

“If he’d run for President I’d consider him too.”

So would I. He sure took a beating from Trump in the primaries in 2016, and maybe he doesn’t want to deal with that again.

[Candor7]

The situation is ripe for a caning.