Mediaboss Marketing

Today we are going to unveil that we are returning $500,000 to the Treasury. We invited several representatives of taxpayers from around the state to receive this check. This is a check for $500,000, or representative of $500,000, that we are returning from our office budget to the Treasury.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), speaking at a news conference, Jan. 13, 2012

Senator Rand Paul returns $480,000 to U.S. Treasury from Office Budget, has returned $1.8 million since taking office.

headline on Rand Paul news release, Feb. 20, 2015

A reader spotted a news item about Sen. Rand Pauls annual announcement that he has saved hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxpayer funds and returned it to the Treasury. He wondered how accurate that statement was, and so we decided to look into it.

Theres actually less to this claim than meets the eye one made by not just Paul but a number of lawmakers. But Paul certainly makes a big deal out of it, including the visual image of a giant check made out to The U.S. taxpayer.

The money that every lawmaker receives is subject to annual appropriations, just like funds for the executive branch. As part of that allotment, each lawmaker in the House receives a members representational allowance (MRA), and each senator receives a senators official personnel and office expense allowance (SOPOEA).

The money is intended to be used for office and staff expenses; the procedures and formulas for determining the amount for each lawmaker are slightly different in each legislative body.

The average amount for House members was $1.255 million in fiscal year 2014, while senators will receive an average of$3.24 million in fiscal year 2015, according to the Congressional Research Service. Few lawmakers spent every cent of their allotment, and some (especially in the Senate) leave hundreds of thousands of dollars unspent.

Continued here:
Did Rand Paul really return money to the Treasury ...

TIME Politics 2016 Election Rand Paul Just Lost the Bulgaria Primary Andrew HarrerBloomberg/Getty Images Senator Rand Paul, a Republican from Kentucky, listens to a question during an interview at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland, Feb. 27, 2015. U.S. ally hits back after the presidential hopeful's dismissive remark

Bulgaria has a bone to pick with Rand Paul.

The countrys Embassy in Washington hit back Friday at comments the Republican presidential hopeful made earlier this week, in which he seemed to dismiss the countrys importance while mounting an attack against Hillary Clinton.

It goes without saying that Senator Rand Pauls remark is inappropriate, the Bulgarian embassy in Washington told TIME in a statement. His dismissive attitude towards a US and NATO ally and a friendly country and his foreign policy record is to be judged by the American people.

Paul on Wednesday reiterated his criticism of the former Secretary of State for not paying more attention to the situation on the ground in Libya ahead of the September, 2012 attack on a Benghazi compound that killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans. Clinton has said she didnt read a diplomatic cable requesting increased security at the compound.

MORE: Republicans Rediscovering Their Old Hawkish Message on Foreign Policy

I could expect her not to read the cables from Bulgaria, Paul told Yahoo on Wednesday. But absolutely its inconceivable she didnt read the cables coming from Benghazi.

Bulgaria had kinder words for Clinton.

Not that long time ago Secretary Clinton was on an official visit to Bulgaria, the embassy added, referring to a 2012 visit by the now-presumptive Democratic presidential front-runner. She stays engaged with us and is very well aware of the geopolitical realities of the region.

Pauls campaign declined to comment Friday on the Bulgarian embassys statement. He has long seized on Clintons tenure at the State Department and the Benghazi attack in particular as fodder for criticism and to tout his anti-interventionist, libertarian foreign policy ahead of a likely presidential run. Last year, for example, he came out swinging at a talk in Kentucky by pointing to the State Departments spending bill on embassy dcor.

Go here to see the original:
Rand Paul Just Lost the Bulgaria Primary

World News Videos | US News VideosCopy

Sen. Rand Paul got a rousing reception this afternoon at the Conservative Political Action Conference, lighting up a crowd that tends to have a libertarian streak to it, saying, In the coming weeks, I will propose the largest tax cut in American history.

Speaking with rolled-up sleeves, he promised to pitch a tax cut that will leave more money in the paychecks of every worker in America. My tax plan will keep the IRS out of your life and out the way of every job creator in America. My plan will also cut spending and balance the budget in just five years.

Paul, R-Ky., blasted Congress, now controlled by Republicans, calling it dysfunctional.

Often, bills are plopped on our desk with only a few hours to review, he said. No one, and I mean no one, is able to read what is in the bill. I propose something truly outrageous: Congress should read every bill.

The crowd was packed with supporters, and Paul was interrupted by chants of President Paul, President Paul. He perhaps received the loudest applause when talking about personal privacy and going after the woman he may face if he they both choose to run in 2016: Hillary Clinton.

Hillarys war in Libya is a perfect example, he told the CPAC crowd in National Harbor, Maryland. Hillarys war made us less safe," adding, "Libya's less stable."

He said to cheers: Its time for Hillary Clinton to permanently retire.

Calling the crowd lovers of liberty, he asked them to rise to the occasion.

You do have a right to privacy," he said. "Your rights are who you are, your rights are what you are, your rights are in your DNA -- and the government can, quite frankly, get over it.

The rest is here:
Rand Paul at CPAC Promises 'Largest Tax Cut in American History'

Sen. Rand Paul (R., Ky.), told an enthusiastic but hawkish audience Friday that his inclination to limit U.S. military intervention does not mean he opposes a strong defense.

We must our protect ourselves from jihadists without losing ourselves as a people, Mr. Paul told a meeting of thousands of activists at the three-day Conservative Political Action Conference.

Asked to address criticism that his foreign policy was insufficiently aggressive which some see as Mr. Pauls biggest liability in seeking his partys nomination the senator sought to portray his view as a middle ground.

Not all Republicans are the same on foreign policy, said Mr. Paul, one of several potential presidential candidates who tested their campaign messages at the annual conference. It is a spectrum. There are people who believe we should never be anywhere outside our borders. There are people who believe we should be everywhere all the time.

His audience at CPAC was packed with supporters especially young people who wore Stand with Rand T-shirts and chanted President Paul! President Paul! at various intervals, giving him one of the most raucous receptions of any of the candidates.

Many among them seemed receptive to his more restrained view of the use of military might, but the audience throughout the conference has responded enthusiastically to hawkish messages from the podium. Some of the best-received applause lines throughout the conference have been bellicose language and criticism of Mr. Obamas foreign policy.

Mr. Paul linked his call for foreign policy limits to the kind of anti-government rhetoric that is popular with conservatives.

We should not succumb to the notion that a government inept at home will somehow become successful abroad, that a government that is unable to deliver the mail will somehow be able to build nations abroad, he said.

On domestic policy, Mr. Paul promised that in the coming weeks he would be proposing the largest tax cut in American history and a plan to cut spending and balance the budget in five years. Asked how he would amend the constitution if he had only one amendment, he said he would call for term limits for elected officials as well as for out of control judges.

Jeb Bush on Immigration

Read more from the original source:
Rand Paul Rouses CPAC, Defends His Foreign Policy

No, Rand Paul #39;s Vaccine Comment Was Not #39;Taken Out Of Context #39;
Rand Paul thinks his words were taken out of context. Hmmm. --- NowThisNews is the rst and only video news network built for people who love their phones an...

By: NowThis

Originally posted here:
No, Rand Paul's Vaccine Comment Was Not 'Taken Out Of Context' - Video