President Donald Trump criticized Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., on Tuesday for pledging to vote against his administration’s “big, beautiful bill,” accusing the Kentucky senator of consistently voting no and lacking “practical or constructive ideas.”
Paul has said he could support the 1,116-page budget reconciliation bill, which passed the House last month, if it did not include language to raise the federal debt ceiling by $4 trillion, according to The Hill.
Paul’s comments drew a fiery response from Trump on his social media platform, Truth Social.
“Rand votes NO on everything, but never has any practical or constructive ideas. His ideas are actually crazy (losers!). The people of Kentucky can’t stand him. This is a BIG GROWTH BILL!” Trump posted.
In a separate post, Trump said Paul “has very little understanding of the BBB,” referring to the bill by its initials, and does not grasp “the tremendous GROWTH” it would create.
“Rand Paul has very little understanding of the BBB, especially the tremendous GROWTH that is coming,” Trump wrote. “He loves voting ‘NO’ on everything. He thinks it’s good politics, but it’s not. The BBB is a big WINNER!!”
Paul, who has long warned against adding to the national debt, said he could not vote for Trump’s proposal because it would add several trillion dollars to the deficit over the next two years.
“The math doesn’t really add up,” Paul said Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “I think they’re asking for too much money.”
Paul warned before the Memorial Day recess that anticipated annual deficits could reach $2 trillion for the next two years if the debt ceiling is raised by another $4 trillion to $5 trillion to allow for government spending and debt obligations past the 2026 midterm election.
“The problem for conservatives is they lose their high moral ground. These will be their deficits,” Paul said. “These will be GOP spending bills, GOP deficits, and there is no change in the direction of the country.”
Paul also criticized the spending cuts in Trump’s bill as inadequate.
“They got a $300 billion increase in spending for the military and the border,” he said. “We don’t need another $46 billion for a border wall. There’s nothing conservative about this.”
