Rand Paul responds: ‘I support President Trump but have also disagreed with him’

When I ran for the Senate, I promised Kentuckians I would fight against endless spending and endless wars.

Since my first day in office, under presidents of both parties, I have worked hard to honor that promise in a Congress where principle is unwelcome, and “compromise” is defined as, “You spend some more money, and I’ll spend some more money, and we’ll call it a bipartisan breakthrough.”

So I appreciate the Herald-Leader’s recent backing for my position that war must be declared by Congress. It’s unfortunate, however, that it comes sandwiched between playground name-calling and distorting my record.

For instance, I’m not quite sure how one can have a “welcome return” to a position they never left.

Under President Obama, I condemned actions that turned Libya into a breeding ground for terrorists, pushed to end nation-building, and opposed selling over $1 billion of military support to the brutal Saudi Arabia regime. I filibustered, speaking continuously for 13 hours to protest President Obama’s extensive drone killings, until I obtained what should have been a simple answer from the administration: a president cannot use a drone to kill an American on American soil without that person being found guilty or even charged with a crime.

As I promised, I have stood with President Trump in rolling back the War on Coal, cutting taxes, appointing constitutionalist judges, reforming our criminal justice system, expanding health care choice, creating jobs, and growing our economy.

In speaking to President Trump privately and listening to him publicly, I also remain impressed by what I see as his sincere desire to end forever wars.

However, I have spoken out when policies have departed from that shared goal. I have continued to force votes to stop the U.S. from perpetuating the Yemeni humanitarian crisis and propping up the Saudis and their allies (and I called for holding the Saudis accountable for the dissident Khashoggi’s death). I pushed for de-escalating tensions with Iran and for getting our troops out of Syria.

In addition, I voted to protect the constitutional right of Congress to control the power of the purse.

I have also maintained, despite the op-ed’s claims, my fight against debt.

When Congress cut taxes in 2017, I demanded a vote to keep corresponding spending cuts intact, asking on the Senate floor, “Who’s willing to say, ‘You know what, I’m for tax cuts, but I’m also for saying, across the board, we need to have spending restraint’?” For all their talk since, every single Democrat voted against me and for ignoring spending limits. When big spending bills come to the floor, I force votes on finding matching cuts, and I have repeatedly introduced balanced budgets, including a plan requiring only a two-percent cut to balance in five years. I regularly issue reports to alert Americans to how government uses their money and have held multiple hearings on waste.

I stand accused of shifting on whistleblowers, but just last year, consistent with my position, I offered legislation to extend whistleblower protections - including retroactively - to all federal contractors, which would cover perhaps the greatest whistleblower of all time, Edward Snowden. While I believe whistleblowers should not be fired, I also believe the accused has a right to face his accuser. Is that really too much to ask in our system of “innocent until proven guilty”?

Here’s the bottom line: I support President Trump but have also disagreed with him, consistent with principles I have held since long before I took office and acted on under both parties.

It is those principles and my promise to Kentuckians that will continue to guide me.

Rand Paul is the junior senator from Kentucky.

This story was originally published January 16, 2020 at 12:49 PM.