It's Rand Paul vs. Everybody Over GOP Budget

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is standing opposed to the GOP budget due to its lack of budget cuts, and the rest of the GOP is none too happy about it, according to Politico.

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Paul is standing opposed to the budget as it doesn’t eliminate $43 billion in overseas war funding that blows past the cap set by Congress in 2011.

“I’ve told them I’m a ‘yes’ if they’ll not exceed the budget caps,” Paul said. “If leadership is unwilling to compromise with somebody who is concerned about the debt, then they deserve to lose.”

“These are the people who come to our caucus every day and say: ‘Oh the budget doesn’t matter, it’s just a vehicle to get to taxes,’” Paul added. “And yet when I ask for something they aren’t willing to do it.”

As Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) is out indefinitely, the GOP can only stand to lose one vote before the budge fails. As Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is currently undecided — he wants to add to defense spending — the budget is already in danger of failing.

“We have to resolve the defense issue,” McCain said. “We have to have sufficient spending for defense. More young men and women in the military are dying today because of a lack of readiness, training, equipment, and funding. That has got to stop.”

Paul’s stances have once again put him in the crosshairs of fellow GOP members, especially after he called both McCain and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) out on Twitter for “busting budget caps.”

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Neither Graham and McCain responded to Paul’s tweet. Graham responded on Twitter by saying Paul had “bad info” and blamed him for the GOP’s Obamacare replacement bill, which Paul had called out as “Obamacare Lite.”

Graham sent out a second tweet saying that the resolution doesn’t “affect statutory spending gaps.”

McCain was a bit more biting in his comment.

“I don’t pay any attention to Senator Paul,” said McCain according to Bloomberg. “Nor does hardly anybody else.”

Both Paul and McCain have left themselves room for negotiation, but both want the exact opposite outcome. The issue must be resolved by Thursday when the vote is set to take place, and it will be interesting to see which way the Senate will lean in order to obtain the vote of one or the other.

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