‘Immaturity Beyond Words’: Rand Paul Roasts White House ‘Pettiness’ After Being Barred From Annual Congressional Picnic

It’s safe to say, after Wednesday, that the relationship between the libertarian senator from Kentucky, Rand Paul, and the White House is not in a good place.President Trump’s staff told him he wasn’t welcome at the annual congressional picnic on Thursday, something Dr. Paul says may be unprecedented in congressional history. The congressional picnic at the White House is just that — a picnic for lawmakers and their families on the South Lawn, mingling with fellow members of Congress, administration officials, and the president himself. Dr. Paul says the “pettiness” displayed in disinviting him is not going to make him more conciliatory toward the president’s agenda, and that he will continue to withhold his vote for the tax and spending legislation Mr. Trump is trying to shepherd through Congress. A number of Republican senators have raised concerns about the “One Big Beautiful Bill” in recent weeks, with conservatives saying there must be additional spending cuts and moderates advocating for a lighter touch on clean energy tax credits and reforms to Medicaid. Dr. Paul has said that all the White House has to do to win his vote is strip the $5 trillion debt limit increase from the legislation. Still, the White House has chosen the Kentucky senator as its chief antagonist in the battle, and he says his pushback is the primary reason he has been blackballed. “I think I’m the first senator in the history of the United States to be uninvited to the White House picnic,” Dr. Paul told reporters as he left the Capitol on Wednesday. “Every Democrat will be invited. Every Republican will be invited, but I will be the only one disallowed to come on the grounds of the White House. I just find this incredibly petty.”“The level of immaturity is beyond words,” he said. Dr. Paul has said that if the $5 trillion debt limit hike is removed, then he can almost certainly get to yes, though he says he still has problems with other provisions.On Wednesday, Mr. Trump’s border tsar, Tom Homan, met with senators to tell them that they need to pass the bill, which includes $150 billion in additional funding for a border wall and deportation operations, among other immigration enforcement measures. Dr. Paul, who attended the meeting, emerged to say he was unconvinced by Mr. Homan’s pitch. He says that the president’s immigration enforcement efforts do not require a price tag of $150 billion, and that Mr. Trump can achieve his goals with only half that amount. “I think there’s a lot of people who mean well, but aren’t very well-informed in the administration,” Dr. Paul tells the Sun of his meeting with Mr. Homan on Wednesday. “They want what’s best and I want the same thing — border security. But if you want to be thoughtful about it, you should crunch numbers and look at what we actually need.”“Really, I think they’ve been occupied with attacking me for the last week,” Dr. Paul says. “I don’t think it’s very useful.”The White House did not respond to multiple requests for comment. The pettiness from the White House, Dr. Paul says, is not going to make him more “conciliatory” to the demand that he back Mr. Trump’s signature legislation. He says that the retribution may only strengthen his resolve.“They have shown over the last week that they don’t care about my vote at all,” Dr. Paul says. “Conceivably, there might be some situation where they needed my vote. Instead, they have decided to try to attack my character.”Dr. Paul was hesitant to criticize the president himself, despite Mr. Trump’s numerous Truth Social posts about how the senator needs to fall in line on the bill. Instead, he seemed to take a shot at Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, who has discussed the possibility of suspending the right of habeas corpus in order to speed up the mass deportation operation. “These are people that shouldn’t be working over there,” Dr. Paul said of the White House staff, without naming Mr. Miller directly. “I mean, you have people that are basically going around casually talking about getting rid of habeas corpus. … It’s one of the most fundamental rights we have.”________________Correction: Kentucky is the state represented by Dr. Paul in the Senate. An earlier version misstated the name of the state.

‘Immaturity Beyond Words’: Rand Paul Roasts White House ‘Pettiness’ After Being Barred From Annual Congressional Picnic

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