Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) is against the One Big Beautiful Bill Act the House passed early Thursday morning and made his position to Senate leadership clear.
The sticking point for the Kentucky Republican is that the bill includes language to raise the debt limit.
"This will be the greatest increase in the debt ceiling ever. The GOP owns this now," Paul told reporters on Capitol Hill Thursday of the reconciliation package's $4 trillion debt ceiling increase.
“I’ve told [Senate GOP leadership] if they’ll take the debt ceiling off of it, I’ll consider voting for it,” Paul added, arguing conservatives shouldn't be on record supporting this much of an increase in the debt ceiling.
“If they were to take the debt ceiling off of it and have the tax reductions and spending reductions, I’d probably vote for that,” he continued. “The spending reductions are imperfect, and I think wimpy, but I’d still vote for the package if I didn’t have to vote to raise the debt ceiling.”
Paul cautioned what a political headache this will be for Republicans going forward if they vote for the budget reconciliation bill.
“Republicans now own the debt, and Republicans now own the spending. There’s no more blaming, ‘Oh, it’s [former President] Biden’s fault.’ The deficit is fully and completely owned by Republicans after this bill,” he said.
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Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) can only lose three Republican votes to pass the measure.
Paul isn't the only Senate Republican to express concern about the bill, which will likely undergo big changes in the upper chamber.
“I’m hoping now we’ll actually start looking at reality,” said GOP Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, who's been outspoken about the bill's runaway spending. “I know everybody wants to go to Disney World, but we just can’t afford it.”
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