Rand Paul: Open Border Bill Was A Ruse To Funnel Money To Ukraine
(Steve Watson) GOP Senator Rand Paul has blasted Mitch McConnell in the wake of the failed open border bill, charging that the Senate Minority Leader is working with Democrats to funnel money to Ukraine.
Speaking on Fox News, Paul noted of the so called ‘border security’ bill “From the beginning I think this has been a ruse. It hasn’t ever really been about the border. That was a token, that was a bone that was going to be thrown to conservatives.”
He continued, “they were always worried that if conservatives got wind that it was a ruse, that it wasn’t a real border reform, if people like Laura Ingraham or Hannity somehow got wind of this, that you would discuss the bill, look at the bill, and that it would be destroyed.”
“So the game all along long was to keep this in secret from us, but also in the secret from anybody that might look at it and might criticize it,” Paul further urged, adding “This was an organized plan from the very beginning from our leadership to keep this out of the hands of any conservatives that might criticize it.”
Paul noted that “700,000 people already came [across the border] in the past two months,” before laying into McConnell over the bill, which he initially supported, then dismissed when it became obvious it was a total disaster Republicans would never support that would keep the border wide open, as well as sending another $60 BILLION to Ukraine.
“He’s completely out of touch with Kentucky Republicans, with conservative Republicans advocating for all this money to go to Ukraine,” Paul charged, adding “His approval ratings in Kentucky are almost below zero. They are the lowest of any elected official in the United States.”
“He is working with Biden and Schumer to funnel your money to Ukraine, but he’s not working with conservatives. So he is in the minority of his caucus,” Paul continued, adding “There’s maybe ten of them that will vote with all of the Democrats. He is using the minority of the big government Republicans up here to work with Democrats to send your money to Ukraine.”
Watch:
Rand Paul on the failed open border bill: "From the beginning I think this has been a ruse. It hasn’t ever really been about the border...the game all along long was to keep this in secret from us...to funnel your money to Ukraine." Report here: https://t.co/jtG60hN6R1 pic.twitter.com/XqXGcF7r2V
— m o d e r n i t y (@ModernityNews) February 8, 2024
The bill failed to advance in the Senate with a vote of 49 to 50, with 45 Democrats and four Republicans supporting the bill’s advancement. Sixty votes were needed for debate to begin.
The four Republicans who voted for it were Susan Collins of Maine, James Lankford of Oklahoma, who was a lead architect of the bill, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and of course Mitt Romney of Utah.
After the vote, Democrats attempted to advance a separate foreign aid package, to much confusion, which led to a four hour debate.
Eventually, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced that the chamber would reconvene Thursday to vote on the bill again.
“We will recess until tomorrow and give our Republican colleagues the night to figure themselves out,” Schumer sardonically declared, adding “We’ll be coming back tomorrow at noon, and hopefully that will give the Republicans the time they need. We will have this vote tomorrow.”
As we highlighted earlier this week, Schumer proclaimed that if the border security bill wasn’t passed by Congress, it would likely lead to a war between the US and Russia.
Best buckle up for World War Three then.
