Archive for the ‘Rand Paul’ Category

Rand Paul denounces ‘new entitlements’ in emerging health bill – The Hill

Sen. Rand PaulRand PaulOvernight Finance: Senate passes Russian sanctions deal | White House divided on debt limit strategy | Budget office wages 'war on waste' | Trump expected to tighten Cuba rules Sanders: New Iran sanctions could blow up nuclear deal Murkowski: 'I just truly do not know' if I can support GOP health bill MORE (R-Ky.) sharply criticized central elements of the emerging Senate Republican healthcare bill on Thursday, indicating that he will vote against it unless dramatic changes are made.

Paul denounced as new entitlements two core elements of the Republican bill in both the House and Senate: a refundable tax credit to help people buy insurance and a stabilization fund of money to help bring down premiums.

I think we shouldn't have new entitlements that will go on forever in a Republican plan to fix healthcare, Paul told a small group of reporters. We can't pay for what we already have: Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

Paul is perhaps the strongest voice of opposition to the emerging direction of the bill so far.

Sen. Mike LeeMike LeeMurkowski: 'I just truly do not know' if I can support GOP health bill Rand Paul denounces 'new entitlements' in emerging health bill Senate overwhelmingly passes Russia sanctions deal MORE (R-Utah) is another potential conservative no vote. Lee said Sunday that he has grave concerns about the way the bill is headed.

Conservative Sen. Ted CruzTed CruzRand Paul denounces 'new entitlements' in emerging health bill GOP considers keeping ObamaCare taxes Trump having lunch with senators to talk healthcare MORE (R-Texas), in contrast, has held his fire so far, taking a more conciliatory approach toward GOP leaders than he has in the past.

Many conservatives are worried that the bill is being changed to win over moderate Republicans, for example by allowing a longer phase-out of Medicaid expansion funds.

Republicans have a thin margin to move legislation: They can only lose two members and still have the 50 votes needed to pass it.

Paul has been less vocal about his opposition than he was when the bill was moving through the House. Then, he made headlines by wheeling a photocopier across the Capitol to try to find a copy of the House bill.

Asked about the Senates process, Paul pointed to committee hearings, which Republicans are foregoing in a major break from the traditional legislative process.

I think I would have preferred that it go through committee, Paul said. But they've chosen to do it the way they are and we'll see. But the proof's in the details when they finally get a bill out.

Asked if he would be bringing his photocopier back out, Paul smiled and said, Well see.

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Rand Paul denounces 'new entitlements' in emerging health bill - The Hill

Rand Paul and Most Senate Democrats Almost Blocked Trump’s Saudi Arms Deal – The Nation.

Unfortunately, a handful of Democrats sided with the administration and against efforts to end Saudi atrocities in Yemen.

Senator Rand Paul. (AP Photo / J. Scott Applewhite)

There can be no doubt that it is unconscionable for President Donald Trump to promote $110 billion in new arms sale to Saudi Arabiaa country that Human Rights Watch notes has repeatedly used US weapons in attacks that are likely [to] constitute war crimes.

But it is also unconscionable for members of Congress, especially Democrats, to aid and abet Trumps wrongdoing.

Trumps alliance with the Saudiswhich renews the worst of past US practices and extends them at a point when Riyadh is engaged in a brutal assault on the people of Yemenmust be scrutinized, checked, and balanced by the House and Senate. But that will only happen if Democrats form a united front and side with responsible Republicans to prevent arms sales to the Saudis. On Tuesday, 47 senators voted to block a substantial portion of the arms deal the president has promised the Saudis. Unfortunately, 53 senators, including five Democrats, sided with Trump.

That a majority of senators would turn a blind eye to what is happening in Yemen is horrific. That a group of Democrats who join that majority, at a time when a number of Republicans are saying no to Trump, is indefensible.

We have a chance to tell Saudi Arabia weve had enough.@RandPaul urges Senate to block arms for Saudi Arabia

The issues that are in play are not a close call.

Human Rights Watch has documented 81 apparently unlawful coalition attacks over the last two years, many possible war crimes. In almost two dozen of these cases, including the attack on the funeral hall, we were able to identify the US weapons that were used, the international monitoring and advocacy group reported in March. According to the United Nations, at least 4,773 civilians have been killed and 8,272 wounded since this conflict began, the majority by coalition airstrikes. The war has driven Yemen, already the poorest nation in the Middle East, toward humanitarian catastrophe. Both the coalition and Houthi-Saleh forces have blocked or restricted critical relief supplies from reaching civilians. Seven million people face starvation, and cholera ravages parts of the country.

The concern about US arms sales to the Saudis is widespread among human-rights groups.

Two years of conflict have forced three million people to flee their homes, shattered the lives of thousands of civilians and left Yemen facing a humanitarian disaster with more than 18 million in desperate need of assistance. Yet despite the millions of dollars worth of international assistance allocated to the country, many states have contributed to the suffering of the Yemeni people by continuing to supply billions of dollars worth of arms, says Lynn Maalouf, who serves as deputy director for research at Amnesty Internationals Beirut regional office. Weapons supplied in the past by states such as the UK and USA have been used to commit gross violations and helped to precipitate a humanitarian catastrophe. These governments have continued to authorize such arms transfers at the same time as providing aid to alleviate the very crisis they have helped to create. Yemeni civilians continue to pay the price of these brazenly hypocritical arms supplies.

Recognizing the madness of providing the Saudis with more weaponryand justifiably concerned that officials in Riyadh will take from the approval of increased arms sales a implicit signal of US approval for more warfare and killingKentucky Senator Rand Paul broke with Trump and launched a move to block Trumps morally reprehensible choice.

Displaying a picture of a child who was killed in Yemen, the Republican senator pleaded with his Senate colleagues to prevent Trump and his Saudi allies from making circumstances on the ground dramatically worse. One group said that the impending famine in Yemen may reach biblical proportionsthink about that. It is astounding what is being done, said Paul, who declared that we will force this vote for these children in Yemen because we have a chance today to stop the carnage. We have a chance to tell Saudi Arabia weve had enough.

The senators impassioned argument won support from across the political spectrum. Teaming with Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy, a Democrat who has often taken the lead on human-rights issues, Paul succeeded in generating a historic level of opposition to giving a blank check to the Saudis.

The initiative gained the support of four Republican senatorsPaul and Mike Lee of Utah, Todd Young of Indiana, and Dean Heller of Nevadaas well as 43 Democrats. Unfortunately, the five Democratic senators who sided with the administrationIndianas Joe Donnelly, Missouris Claire McCaskill, Floridas Bill Nelson, West Virginias Joe Manchin, and Virginias Mark Warnerprevented Paul and Murphy from succeeding.

The determination of those Democrats to back Trumps Saudi agenda is shameful. They are aiding and abetting not just an irresponsible and wrongheaded Republican president but policies that are likely to lead to significantly more death and more suffering.

Thats frustrating. But it is important to recognize that the fight to limit arms sales to Saudi Arabia is gaining momentum. An effort by Paul and Murphy to block rank sales to Saudi Arabia last year drew just 27 votes. This year, 20 more senators sided with Paul and Murphy.

THE STAKES ARE HIGHER NOW THAN EVER. GET THE NATION IN YOUR INBOX.

Numbers like these in the Senate, historically reluctant to adopt measures that could potentially damage the US-Saudi alliance, show the tide is shifting, explains Alexandra Schmitt of Human Rights Watch. This level of bipartisan support for this resolution could be a game changer and is hopefully the beginning of the end to US cooperation in Saudi-led coalition abuses in Yemen. The Senate should keep up pressure on the Trump administration until the Saudis end their unlawful attacks and credibly investigate the scores they have already conducted.

Thats right. Responsible members of the Senate and the House should keep up pressure on the thoroughly irresponsible Trump administration.

At the same time, Americans of all political backgrounds should keep up pressure on the members of Congress who empower this presidentespecially those Democrats who align with a Trump administration that shows so little regard for human rights and human life.

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Rand Paul and Most Senate Democrats Almost Blocked Trump's Saudi Arms Deal - The Nation.

Rand Paul: Capitol Police Officers are Reason We Survived the … – NBCNews.com


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Rand Paul: Capitol Police Officers are Reason We Survived the ...
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Sen. Rand Paul told Lester Holt that he had just batted when he heard the rapid gunshots and took cover, and lauded the officers who he credited with ...

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Rand Paul: Capitol Police Officers are Reason We Survived the ... - NBCNews.com

Rand Paul And Al Franken Come Together For Weed – The Daily Caller

Republicans and Democrats in Congress are introducing medical marijuana legislation Thursday protecting states from federal interference in the wake of a request to roll back protections from Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

Members of the House of Representatives and Senate are backing a comprehensive marijuana package in an effort to protect state medical legalization laws from a potential federal crackdown. The bill gives the Department of Veteran Affairs the freedom to recommend medical marijuana to patients and removes cannabidiol (CBD), used to treat chronic pain and severe epilepsy, from theControlled Substances Act.

Republican Sens. Mike Lee, Rand Paul and Lisa Murkowski join Democratic Sens. Al Franken, Cory Booker andKirsten Gillibrand as initial sponsors of the legislation, which they will announce in a press conference Thursday. A version of the legislation in the House is also attracting bipartisan support.

A majority of states now have comprehensive medical marijuana laws on the books, and a supermajority of Americans support letting patients access cannabis without fear of arrest, Tom Angell, chairman of Marijuana Majority, told The Daily Caller News Foundation. Its well past time for Congress to modernize federal law so that people with cancer, multiple sclerosis and PTSD dont have to worry about Jeff Sessions sending in the DEA to arrest them or their suppliers. The diverse group of lawmakers behind this new legislation shows that medical cannabis is an issue of compassion, not partisan politics.

The legislation will also ease restrictions on the research community attempting to study the medical applications of marijuana.Scientists in the U.S. attempting to study the effects of marijuana on various ailments lament the continuedroadblocks to federally-funded cannabis research.The designation of marijuana as a Schedule I substance alongside deadly narcotics means that the U.S. government does not recognize any medicinal benefit to marijuana.

The bipartisan effort comes in the wake of a letter from Sessions to Congress leaked Tuesdaypetitioning lawmakers to scale back legal protections for medical marijuana.

In the letter sent to Congress in May, Sessions asks they dismantle rules that bar the Department of Justice (DOJ) from getting involved in medical marijuana issues at the state level. TheRohrabacher-Farr amendment, which passed in 2014, prevents the DOJ from using federal funds to prosecute individuals in states with medical legalization.

Sessions arguesthatthese protections undermine the DOJs ability to combat the illegal drug trade.

Sessions cites the current drug epidemic involving opioids as reason to remove the restrictions placed on the Justice Department. Federal officials estimate that drug overdoses killed more than 60,000 Americans in 2016. Recent research, however, suggests that legal marijuana is helping reduce abuse rates of prescription drugs.

A studypublished in Drug and Alcohol Dependence in March found that in states with legal weed, hospital visits for complications from prescription painkillers are dropping. The hospitalization rate for opioid abuse and dependence in states with medical marijuana are roughly 23 percent lower than states without legal access.

Emergency room visits for opioid overdoses are on average 13 percent lower than states without medical marijuana programs.

Medical marijuana is legal in 29 states and Washington, D.C., where it is also legal for recreational use.Nearly 20 percent of Americans now have access to legal pot.

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Rand Paul And Al Franken Come Together For Weed - The Daily Caller

Sen. Rand Paul uses Israel, Yemen to argue against Saudi arms deal – Washington Examiner

Amid reports casting doubts on the valuation of a $110 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia, the Senate on Tuesday considered a resolution by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., which would prevent any such deal from taking place.

The joint resolution was not passed, but Sen. Paul gave an impassioned apology for it.

Diverging from policy under both Republican and Democratic administrations, Paul argued on the Senate floor that rather than advancing American interests to end everlasting conflicts in the region, giving arms to Saudi Arabia would only prolong conflicts.

"This may make the situation with Iran worse," he argued, rather than helping the U.S. keep Iran in check. He continued, "What do you think Iran thinks when Saudi Arabia gets weapons? They think to themselves, 'well, if the Saudis are getting more, we need more.' ... We are fueling an arms race in the Middle East."

Paul also argued against the deal on behalf of Israel. "Saudi Arabia is no friend of Israel. Do they cooperate with Israel some? Yes. But their missiles are pointed at Tel Aviv."

Paul's other main argument involved Yemen.

Yemen is a nation ravaged by war, man-made famine, and a cholera epidemic, but it is often forgotten. "Everybody is listening to some silly show trials and silly stuff going on in committee. Nobody is talking about this stuff [Yemen] at all. They say it is worse than Syria. Many people have fled Syria, hundreds of thousands have died, and now many are predicting Yemen may be worse."

In his view, the Yemen conflict tragedy, really is only prolonged by Saudi Arabia, which backs the regime and has repeatedly bombed civilians.

The position of non-intervention was represented well yesterday, even though it lost the vote on Saudi arms. In the end, Paul exhorted the public to remember this conflict: "It's being done without your permission, but with your weapons."

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Sen. Rand Paul uses Israel, Yemen to argue against Saudi arms deal - Washington Examiner