There are no principled fiscal conservatives during a crisis. Except for Sen. Rand Paul, evidently.
The libertarian-leaning Kentucky Republican offered an amendment to the $104 billion coronavirus relief bill the Senate passed Wednesday, which would have offset the spending through reforms and cuts elsewhere. The senator doesn’t oppose the idea of government assistance during this time of crisis, he just wants to ensure that we don’t pile hundreds of billions in additional debt on the shoulders of future generations, given their already astounding burden of $23 trillion. When his amendment failed, Paul voted against the final bill in protest.
Actually standing up for principle during the coronavirus crisis makes Paul evil, apparently, in the minds of many unhinged critics:
Putin’s favorite note-passer has been working overtime to endanger the lives of Americans. Rand Paul is a traitor; his loyalty is with the Kremlin, not the U.S. https://t.co/wWZa5bVM6V
— Alexandra Chalupa (@AlexandraChalup) March 18, 2020
PEOPLE ARE LITERALLY DYING, and Dr. @RandPaul pulls this crap??#coronavirus #COVID19 #CoronavirusPandemic https://t.co/AoMAUuew0h
— Dr. Dena Grayson (@DrDenaGrayson) March 18, 2020
How big a dick is @RandPaul? https://t.co/Sn7d6Nwycc
— Mark Stern (@mfstern) March 18, 2020
.@clairecmc says Rand Paul’s slow down of the coronavirus aid package in Senate is “outrageous.”
“The bill that will include more testing … is going to languish for another day to try to get Rand Paul to behave like a grownup. “https://t.co/45Ps3EQdvx
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) March 18, 2020
If a toxic waste dump came to life, it would be Donald Trump.
If a toxic waste dump came to life and had an air of moral superiority that was incoherently wrong on every count, it would be Rand Paul.
— Palmer Report (@PalmerReport) March 18, 2020
Rand Paul is blocking the coronavirus relief bill in the Senate.
Rand Paul is a horrible human being.
— Travis Allen ?? (@TravisAllen02) March 18, 2020
This is just a sampling of the over-the-top vitriol that rushed Paul’s way. Now, there’s room for conservatives perhaps to disagree with Paul and think that this simply isn’t the hill to die on. But he deserves credit, not condemnation, for being the rare politician in Washington willing to fight for principle even when it’s not easy or convenient.
We should never forget fiscal responsibility, even in a crisis. My amendment sought to offset the new spending by making numerous cuts. Read more here: https://t.co/d3kFmquOUU pic.twitter.com/p3CYbFc8X0
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 18, 2020
“Next time, maybe in the not-too-distant future, our children may not even be able to borrow their way out of a crisis,” Paul warned in his Senate speech. In response, his amendment would have offset the $104 billion in coronavirus spending by requiring a Social Security number to receive the Child Tax Credit, thus reducing fraud; allowing the president to redirect spending from other areas; and rolling back our wasteful military presence in Afghanistan. These are all sensible reforms by any fiscally conservative estimation.
Liberals can rail against him all they want on Twitter and MSNBC, but the fact remains that Paul has a point. We can’t just keep piling hundreds of billions on to the national debt every time a crisis pops up — politicians have a way of framing every issue as a “crisis” — or we’ll have a fiscal crisis of our making on our hands before we know it.
