Rand Paul Announces He Will Filibuster Debt Ceiling Deal

The senator did not hide his disdain for the accord, which, in addition to extending the debt limit and funding the government through 2017, raises caps on both defense and domestic spending. But Paul’s ambition for this bill is to deny unanimous consent on passage of the House bill, forcing the Senate to work through the weekend, ahead of the November 5 debt limit expiration deadline stated by the Treasury.

“I will filibuster the new debt ceiling bill”, Paul said at an event on the University of Colorado’s Denver campus.

“Most of the $80 billion in higher discretionary spending for the next two years is covered by a grab bag of revenue increases and spending cuts that don’t materialize for several more years”, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday, hours before Paul arrived in Denver.

The House is expected to vote on the bill Wednesday, but the Senate has yet to schedule a vote for the 144-page bill.

“I will do everything I can to stop it, I will filibuster it, I will not let them condense the time”, Paul said.

Paul added that the bill, “is basically a blank check to the president and to Congress to raise as much money and spend as much money as you want to until March 2017”. “Guns and butter, that’s what we’re going to have, guns and butter, but as a effect they’re destroying the country by adding more debt”.

Rubio criticized the “political establishment” for a lack of transparency in reaching a deal he said would “irresponsibly” raise the debt ceiling without substantive reforms.

The Kentucky senator has made good on promises to filibuster before.

Paul has previously filibustered Senate measures over his opposition to drone strikes and warrantless government surveillance. Rand Paul is arriving early for the Republican presidential debate in Boulder.