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UNITED STATES - JANUARY 27: Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., speaks during the news conference to unveil the Fifth Amendment Integrity Restoration Act (FAIR Act), legislation to 'protect the rights of property owners and restore the Fifth Amendment's role in civil forfeiture proceedings' on Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2015. (Photo By Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call) | Bill Clark via Getty Images

The following post first appeared on FactCheck.org.

Sen. Rand Paul made several misleading statements about the National Institutes of Health and some of the research that it funds.

Paul spoke at the American Spectator Annual Gala in Washington (at the 10:03 mark), and commented on how he has tried to point out potential areas where government spending could be reduced.

Paul, Feb. 11: Remember when we were talking about Ebola last year? Everybody was going crazy about Ebola, and theyre like, oh Republicans didnt spend enough at the NIH. And they didnt spend enough on infectious disease. Turns out, the budget had been going up for years and years at NIH, the budget had been going up for infectious disease. You know how much they spent on Ebola? One-40th of the budget was being spent on Ebola. But you know what we did discover? They spent a million dollars trying to determine whether male fruit flies like younger female fruit flies. I think we could have polled the audience and saved a million bucks.

Paul is wrong about the NIH budget increasing for years and years, even when using figures unadjusted for inflation. The budget was lower in raw dollars in 2014 and 2015 ($30.1 and $30.3 billion, respectively) than it was in 2010, when it reached a high of $31.2 billion. A spokesman from Pauls office sent us the unadjusted dollar amounts to explain the senators claim.

NIH, which is the primary funding source for basic science research in the United States, did see its budget increase dramatically from the mid-1990s, when it stood around $11 billion, through 2003, when it hit $27.2 billion. Since then, the budget has risen in small amounts some years in unadjusted dollars, and declined slightly in other years.

When inflation is taken into account, no increase in funding is evident in the last decade. The $27.2 billion in 2003 is equivalent to almost $35 billion in 2014 dollars, when the NIH budget was just over $30 billion. In other words, the NIH budget has actually decreased by almost $5 billion over the last decade in inflation-adjusted dollars.

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Rand Paul Misleads With Statements On NIH, Fruit Flies

Sen. Rand Paul fired back at a POLITICO article published earlier this week about his push to audit the Federal Reserve as mentioned in an interview with Glenn Beck on his radio program Thursday.

The Kentucky Republican and would-be presidential contender addressed an assertion from former Fed Chairman Donald Kohn that there is essentially no credit risk on the Federal Reserves balance sheet right now and that no institution in the U.S. is subject to more oversight.

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When they say theres no credit risk, they created four-and-a-half trillion dollars to buy these bad mortgages. So is there no risk in creating it? Paul asked in response, according to a transcript of the interview.

Paul continued: But then theres a whole question of favoritism. Is there any conflict of interest? Are any of these assets, so-called assets, which are sometimes bad car loans, bad home loans, are any of these assets owned by friends of theirs?

I mean, Bear Stearns is bailed out, Lehman Brothers isnt, he said. Does that have anything to do with who runs the bank or who owned the banks?

When asked about critics suggestions that hes using the issue to boost his profile among libertarian-minded Republicans, Paul was dismissive.

Well, that sounds like the people who call us flyover America. They discount any knowledge. But they also discount any true belief and worry about our country, he said. I think the one sincere thing that came out of the tea party movement and that still exists in the country is that there are millions of us that are worried about the future of the country. Were worried about the enormous death debt were incurring. Were worried about the ramifications of the Federal Reserve simply creating money to pay for that debt.

Paul told Beck that hes had enough of it.

You know, for about the last two decades, theres been a revolving door between the Fed, the Treasury, and Wall Street again, Paul said. Im tired of bailing out these big banks when they make bad decisions.

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Rand Paul vents to Glenn Beck about Fed criticism

Asked by CNN's Gloria Borger about Paul's comments that governors who expanded Medicaid under Obamacare think that "money grows on trees," Kasich replied, "You mean Senator Ron Paul?"

When Borger insisted she meant the younger Paul, Kasich joked that they were hard to tell apart.

"Oh, I get them confused sometimes," he said, laughing. "Ron and Rand, and I served with Ron."

Pressed by Borger on how he would respond to Paul's critique, Kasich said he had little to say to the senator. He suggested maybe Kentucky's residents weren't dealing with poverty or hunger the way those in other states are.

"I'm not sure I would say much to him. I mean I don't know what he, you know maybe he doesn't work in Kentucky, maybe everybody's fine, maybe there aren't people who are suffering these problems," he said in the interview, which airs in full on Sunday's "State of the Union."

Paul, gearing up for his own presidential campaign, has sought to distance himself from his more libertarian father, who's known for his controversial remarks and stances on hot-button issues.

READ: Poll says Rand Paul tied with Hillary Clinton in two swing states

But Paul has been one of the loudest voices in his party opposed to states' expansion of Medicaid using subsidies from Obamacare. A number of other potential Republican presidential contenders, including Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, refused to expand the program.

Still, others including Kasich, who's seen as a possible contender himself agreed to take the federal funds to expand coverage.

He's forcefully defended the move, and recently said if the Supreme Court strikes down the subsidies Ohio would have to "figure something out" to provide coverage to Ohioans. And in his interview with Borger, Kasich noted that his state's economy seems to be doing just fine.

Read more here:
Kasich jokes: I get Rand 'confused' with Ron

Is Rand Paul aiming to be troller-in-chief?
Sen. Rand Paul and his staffers are using Twitter to take down his potential 2016 rivals. Fmr. Rep. Patrick Murphy and Glenn Thrush discuss the risk of Rand ...

By: MSNBC News

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Is Rand Paul aiming to be troller-in-chief? - Video

Sen. Rand Paul Appears on Fox #39;s America #39;s Newsroom with Bill Hemmer - February 11, 2015
Senator Rand Paul appears on the Fox News Channel #39;s America #39;s Newsroom with Bill Hemmer to discuss President Obama #39;s proposed Authorization for the Use of Mi...

By: SenatorRandPaul

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Sen. Rand Paul Appears on Fox's America's Newsroom with Bill Hemmer - February 11, 2015 - Video