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President Donald Trump had harsh words for one key senator on Tuesday amid the president’s push to ensure that his “Big Beautiful Bill” passes Congress, decrying opposition for playing politics and stopping forward momentum.
“Rand Paul has very little understanding of the BBB, especially the tremendous GROWTH that is coming. He loves voting ‘NO’ on everything, he thinks it’s good politics, but it’s not. The BBB is a big WINNER!!!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., has voiced his opposition to the bill, drawing fire from supporters of the legislation, but Paul has maintained his intention to vote against it as it is written.
“The American people, like the Great People of Kentucky, do not support Biden spending levels and $5T in new debt. Therefore, I will not. It’s simple,” Paul wrote on X.
Paul has also opposed President Trump’s use of tariffs to stimulate global commerce and trade, as well as to boost domestic economic investment and growth.
“I had a very good conversation this week with the president about tariffs, he did most of the talking, and we don’t agree exactly on the outcome,” he told CBS this week.
Paul claimed that in Kentucky, after talking to people in multiple industries impacted by trade, he didn’t feel that there had been widespread support for tariffs in his home state.
“I have no organized business interest in Kentucky for the tariffs,” he said. “So, I think it’s worth the discussion, and I think it’s worth remembering that Republicans used to be for lower taxes, tariffs are a tax. So if you raise the taxes on the private sector, that’s not good for the private sector.”
Paul told CBS that he believed there were “four” Republicans in Senate who would be willing to vote “no” on Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill, potentially blocking it from codification.
“And I would be very surprised if the bill, at least, is not modified in a good direction. Look, I want to vote for it. I’m for the tax cuts. I voted for the tax cuts before, I want the tax cuts to be permanent. But at the same time, I don’t want to raise the debt ceiling $5 trillion,” he said.
It’s unclear if Paul truly has enough votes to block the legislation, but President Trump fired off an additional statement directed at the Kentucky senator on Tuesday morning, accusing Paul of voting no on “everything.”
Trump wrote, “Rand votes NO on everything, but never has any practical or constructive ideas. His ideas are actually crazy (losers!). The people of Kentucky can’t stand him. This is a BIG GROWTH BILL!”