Senators Fear Rand Paul Will Make Them Work the Weekend

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Senators Fear Rand Paul Will Make Them Work the Weekend

By JIM NEWELL
MARCH 22, 2018

Sen. Richard Shelby, a senior appropriator who did much of the spade work on the $1.3 trillion appropriations bill now rushing its way through Congress, still has no idea when the Senate will take its vote on the bill. The only person who knows whether senators will vote on Thursday, or be forced to stay until Sunday, is the enigmatic junior senator from Kentucky.

“You guys talked to Sen. Paul?” Shelby asked reporters after Thursday’s caucus lunch. “Did you all feel his pulse?”

Not even Paul’s Kentucky colleague, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, had a read on his junior partner, whose objection to a unanimous consent request during the budget debate in February led to a brief government shutdown.

“We’ll find out in the next few hours how quickly we’ll be able to move this,” McConnell told reporters, in a rare acknowledgement of their existence in the hallway outside his office.

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When asked what he plans to do early Thursday afternoon, Sen. Paul said that he was only on Page 56 of the bill and refused further comment.

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https://slate.com/news-and-politics/...ent-again.html

What? They can't vote on the bill until one of them actually reads it?

https://memegenerator.net/img/instan...16/sadness.jpg

He's tweeting as he's reading through the bill. Currently on page 281 out of 2232.

https://twitter.com/RandPaul

Great article. Thank you, again, Rand! Now if we only had another 99 Senate members just like him.

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McConnell files cloture on omnibus, setting up first vote at 1 a.m. Saturday

BY JORDAIN CARNEY
03/22/18

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is teeing up a bill the $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill approved earlier Thursday by the House to stave off a possible government shutdown that would begin at midnight Friday.

McConnell filed cloture on the mammoth funding bill from the Senate floor early Thursday evening.

The move sets up an initial vote on the legislation for early Saturday morning—roughly an hour after the deadline to prevent the third shutdown of the year.

After that, senators could drag out debate on a bill for an additional 30 hours, which could set up a final vote on Sunday.

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Paul, who forced an hours-long shutdown last month, has kept his colleagues in the dark about his intentions.

Instead, he's been tweeting out his progress reading the 2000-plus page bill.

"Page 281 of 'crumni-bus,'" he tweeted shortly after 4:30 p.m.

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http://thehill.com/business-a-lobbyi...-1-am-saturday

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Senate, $1.3 trillion in spending wait while Rand Paul reads budget

BY LESLEY CLARK
March 22, 2018

Sen. Rand Paul was single-handedly bringing the U.S. Senate, and progress on $1.3 trillion in federal spending, to a halt.

As his Senate colleagues and the U.S. government waited, the Kentucky Republican was hunkered down in his Senate office into the evening Thursday, methodically reading the the 2,232 page spending bill he considers a monstrosity of bloated government spending.

“On page 207. 2000+ pages to go!” Paul tweeted at one point. “Reading about the ever wasteful $6 billion National Science Foundation.”

At page 226 of what he called a “terrible, no good, rotten deficit spending bill,” he discovered something he could support, tweeting “I found a kernel of hope: ‘no funds in this act will be used to support or justify torture.’ “

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read more:
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/poli...206452329.html

he's up to page 392 now

The House passed it just 16 hours after the 2000+ page bill was made public and available to be read. Besides Rand Paul they also need at least nine Democrats to vote for it.

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House sends $1.3 trillion spending bill to the Senate, all eyes on Rand Paul

The House has passed a $1.3 trillion spending package that will increase funding for the military and domestic spending and will keep the government funded through the end of September, but it's unclear whether the Senate can pass the proposal ahead of a shutdown deadline Friday night.

The legislation passed 256-167 with Democrats and Republicans coming together to pass it less than 24 hours after the 2,300-page bill was made public.

Now, it's up to the Senate to pass it before the government runs out of money Friday at midnight. The Senate need unanimous consent -- meaning all members have to agree -- to bring the bill up for a timely vote. If one member objects, it could force the government into a brief shutdown, which is why many congressional observers are watching Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul, who forced a brief shutdown last month using a similar procedural maneuver.

When asked in front of reporters by Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy when the chamber will vote, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell smiled and said, "whenever Sen. Paul decides we can."

The Kentucky Republican has spent the past 24 hours criticizing the bill and the process by which the legislation is made public and passed.

"Shame, shame. A pox on both Houses - and parties. $1.3 trillion. Busts budget caps. 2200 pages, with just hours to try to read it," Paul tweeted.

Later Thursday afternoon he tweeted, "3. Reading this monstrous bill full of grant programs begun decades ago reminds me of Reagan's critique: the nearest thing to immortality is a government program."

The massive spending package marks the end of a months-long funding stalemate in which lawmakers were forced to pass one short-term spending bill after another to stave off a shutdown. The package includes more than just money to fight the opioid epidemic, pay the military and fund more than $21 billion in infrastructure projects. It also includes policy changes like one that would incentivize states to enter more records into the country's gun background check system and another that would cut off aide to the Palestinian Authority until Palestinians cease making payments to the families of terrorists.

President Donald Trump will sign the omnibus bill if it reaches his desk, Mick Mulvaney, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, told reporters on Thursday.
Mulvaney admitted that the bill wasn't perfect and wasn't exactly what the White House wanted, but that -- on the whole -- the bill "funds (Trump's) priorities."

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The internal GOP backlash to the amount of spending and the process of rushing the measure through just 16 hours after it was released was on full display on the House floor on Thursday. Twenty-five House Republicans broke with their leadership and opposed the usually party line procedural vote bringing up the legislation. But the measure narrowly passed 211-207.

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485

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVztKpsk9Zk

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Originally Posted by dannno

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVztKpsk9Zk

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Wow. I actually agree with Molyneaux on something. (he still goes on too long)

(Headline is wrong though- it isn't Trump's bill- it is Congress's)

working thru dinner...

I guess he got tired of reading.

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UPDATE 12:25 a.m.: The Senate advanced a massive $1.3 trillion spending bill that funds the federal government through Sept. 30.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) initially resisted swift consideration of the measure - which could have led to a government shutdown - but ultimately dropped his procedural objections. The bill is expected to be passed shortly, sending it to President Donald Trump for his signature.

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https://www.politico.com/story/2018/...omnibus-480553

Kill the bill .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHYDFClkqHw

thanks, Rand! We see you.

Thanks Rand and thanks @jct74 for posting all Rands updates.

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Originally Posted by georgiaboy

thanks, Rand! We see you.

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Right on.

This government is nuts and spending is out of control.

Now that trump has his war department all but ready, we can expect some
New war against the next boogeyman shortly.

2018-2019 will be just peachy I’m sure of it

https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KkHTtJxL-...t%2Btweets.png

XNN

Enigmatic is the new quirky.

The last minute signing of the $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill in the US is a big windfall for the Pentagon, who will be getting the majority of the money ...

http://news.antiwar.com/wp-content/u.../2017/05/t.jpg

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Originally Posted by asurfaholic

Right on.

This government is nuts and spending is out of control.

Now that trump has his war department all but ready, we can expect some
New war against the next boogeyman shortly.

2018-2019 will be just peachy I’m sure of it

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Who knows what to expect. Wasn't there some cardboard planes on a fake air strip in World War II or at some point in time?

If the World thinks the USA spent X Trillion dollars on something, they give the USA credit for being pretty good at that thing.

Ron Paul had it wrong. It is not about audit the FED. It is about audit the entire Federal Government!

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Originally Posted by Root

Thanks Rand and thanks @jct74 for posting all Rands updates.

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+1

My favorite mod

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Originally Posted by Schifference

If the World thinks the USA spent X Trillion dollars on something, they give the USA credit for being pretty good at that thing.

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That thing being spending money it doesn't have.