Trump's "one big beautiful bill" holdout Sen. Rand Paul says "the math doesn't really add up"
Source: CBS News
Updated on: June 1, 2025 / 1:52 PM EDT
Washington — Sen. Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican, said Sunday that "the math doesn't really add up" on the cost of President Trump's "one big beautiful bill," while outlining his opposition as the legislation moves to the Senate this week. "I think they're asking for too much money," Paul said on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan."
Paul is among a handful of Senate Republicans who have expressed opposition to the centerpiece legislation of Mr. Trump's second term agenda that addresses the president's tax, defense and energy priorities and which the House narrowly approved last month. The Kentucky Republican argued Sunday that with the legislation, "there's going to be a lot of extra money" going toward "padding the military budget" and additional border security when "the President has essentially stopped the border flow without new money and without any legislation."
But Paul's red line, he indicated, is on the legislation's provision that would to raise the debt ceiling. The House-passed bill includes a $4 trillion debt ceiling hike, while the Senate's budget blueprint contained a $5 trillion increase. And Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told congressional leaders earlier this month that the federal government could be unable to pay its bills as soon as August if Congress doesn't act. Paul has advocated for removing the debt ceiling provision from the bill and voting on the issue separately.
Paul said he wants to vote for the legislation and its tax components should the debt ceiling component be removed, saying "in all likelihood, I can vote for what the agreement is on the rest of the bill, and it doesn't have to be perfect to my liking." But for him, the debt ceiling increase is a nonstarter.
Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/rand-paul-trump-one-big-beautiful-bill-math-face-the-nation-06-01-2025/
= new reply since forum marked as read
