Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) has been an increasing thorn in President Donald Trump's side as he speaks out against the sustainability of Trump's "big, beautiful bill" now under consideration in the Senate.
The bill extends Trump's 2017 tax cuts and slashes over $1 trillion from Medicaid, food stamps, and green energy subsidies. However, the cuts do not fully offset the outlays, and Paul is adamant that the bill should not increase deficit spending to such an extent.
Following intense pressure from the Trump sphere, including Trump publicly attacking Paul, the senator is unbowed.
“There’s a lot of people who mean well but aren’t very well informed in the administration," Paul told Punchbowl News' Andrew Desiderio on Wednesday afternoon. "But if you want to be thoughtful about it, you should crunch numbers and look at actually what we need. And really I think they’ve been attacking me for the last week individually. I don’t think it’s very useful."
According to Paul, he is still being targeted for retaliation over his opposition stance, with the administration uninviting him from the White House picnic.
“The level of immaturity is beyond words,” Paul told The Hill's Mychael Schnell.
All of this comes as even supporters of Trump's bill acknowledge it needs serious revisions in order to be compliant with Senate procedure, stripping out non-budgetary provisions so it doesn't run afoul of the so-called "Byrd Rule."
House Republicans are planning a revote to modify provisions of the bill that Senate Republicans don't believe can pass muster, although GOP leadership reportedly was surprised by the extent of the requested changes.
