Sen. Rand Paul has denounced the $1.3 trillion federal budget bill as "rotten, terrible."
Paul, the Kentucky Republican whose distaste for the last short-term spending deal caused a brief government shutdown in February, told McClatchy the latest agreement struck by lawmakers ahead of Friday night's deadline is too heavy on spending.
"The agreement is a "rotten, terrible, no good way to run your government," Paul said.
It was reported Wednesday night that lawmakers put together the massive spending bill, which passed in the House Thursday. The Senate now needs to approve it and send it to the White House for President Donald Trump to sign. If it's not approved by midnight Friday night, a government shutdown will occur.
"You have to know what's in it. Really, should we be looking at 1,000-page bills with 24 hours to decide what's in them? It's really not a good way to run your government," Paul told McClatchy.
Government spending, Paul said, is out of control.
"That's why I gave them a piece of my mind the last time around. I'm upset that we're spending like every Democrat that we criticized," Paul said. "I ran for office because I thought the Obama spending and trillion-dollar annual deficits were a real problem for our country and now Republicans are doing the same thing.
"So I'm giving them the same grief I gave Obama."
It's not yet clear whether Paul will try to hold up the Senate vote on the bill or even if he will vote in favor of it. He posted a photo of himself on Twitter Thursday morning holding the printed version of it, which he said was "2,232 budget-busting pages."
The national debt eclipsed the $21 trillion mark last week.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.