WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Sen. Rand Paul joined several of his Republican colleagues on the floor to speak in a colloquy in which they voiced their support for addressing the current debt crisis immediately and providing solutions, such as a series of spending cuts and caps and attaching balanced budget amendment to the Constitution.
Sen. Paul and his Republican colleagues spent their time on the floor today also questioning President Obama’s dedication to the issue, as he participated in campaign events instead of working with Congress to address our nation’s debt crisis.
Below is video and a transcript of Sen. Paul’s floor speech. Video of the entire colloquy is available here.
CLICK HERE TO WATCH SEN. RAND PAUL ADDRESS OUR NATION’S DEBT CRISIS AND QUESTION PRESIDENT OBAMA’S WHEREABOUTS
TRANSCRIPT:
I come down to the floor today in support of this movement. This movement is that we should be talking about what America says we should be talking about, the debt.
Now, yesterday the President went on national television and chastised Congress. He said to Congress, and I quote, “Members of Congress need to cancel things.”
Well, you know what? I agree. I’m here today, though, Mr. President. Where are you?
My understanding is the President is campaigning, has a fund-raiser in Philadelphia tonight. I don’t believe he’s here tackling the nation’s problems today.
Well he could send us the Vice President, but I don’t think the Vice President is either here. Also, I think he’s in Las Vegas campaigning tonight.
So the thing is it is a two-way street, if he’s going to go on national television and chastise us not for doing work, we’re here saying, we want to be working on the nation’s problems. We’re here saying the nation’s debt is a problem. His administration has said the number-one national security threat we face is the debt.
Where is the president? Campaigning.
We’re here, Mr. President. And we will have an offer. We don’t want to raise the debt-ceiling. We don’t want more debt. But you know what, as Republicans, for the good of the country, we’re willing to raise the debt, but only – and I repeat, only if we have significant budgetary reform.
We have to balance the budget by law, force Congress to do it, by changing the constitution. It’s the only way it will ever change.
There is pathology here. The pathology is that we do not have a spine. We are spineless and cannot do what it takes to cut the spending, and only we will get there if we change the constitution.
So, Mr. President, we are here. We are here. We welcome to you come back to town in between fund-raisers and talk about how we would fix this. But we would fix this by saying, “yes, we will raise the debt ceiling, contingent upon a balanced budget amendment to the constitution.”
75 percent of the public is in favor of saying you have to balance your budget. Let’s come back and discuss what I commend Senator Johnson for leading this fight.
I think this is just the beginning. But I don’t plan on saying we should go to any other subject until we’ve addressed the debt ceiling.
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