Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) had some harsh words Friday for all the fearmongering going on around the country concerning the looming sequester next week.
Appearing on Fox News's Happening Now, Paul said, "Balderdash. It’s untrue, unfair, dishonest, disingenuous. The president is making stuff up" (video follows with transcript and commentary):
JENNA LEE, HOST: Senator Paul, real quick here. You've been really outspoken about sequester and I want to ask you about that because our viewers today and for the next week are going to be hearing about the effects of sequester if it does indeed happen. We’ve heard of hundreds of thousands of job losses, our meat not being inspected by federal officials, about hundreds of thousands of kids being affected if this goes into effect. What is your message to our viewers because you’ve called the sequestration a pittance in the grand scheme of things? What do you think our viewers should consider when we also hear this from lawmakers from both sides of the aisle?
SENATOR RAND PAUL (R-KENTUCKY): I would say balderdash. It’s untrue, unfair, dishonest, disingenuous. The president is making stuff up. He puts law enforcement, he puts firemen and policemen, who 98 percent of them are being paid for with your local taxes, and says you’re going to lose your local policeman because of this. It’s not true. The sequester is a slowdown in the rate of growth of government. It’s the least we can do. Our country is drowning in a sea of debt, borrowing $50,000 a second. We have to slow down spending. And for the president to use this histrionics is really I think beneath the office of the presidency.
Potentially even more scandalous are all the so-called news outlets and media members parroting the president without telling the nation the truth about just how small these cuts are in relation to the size of the budget and the economy and therefore how inconsequential they're going to be.
For news organizations and press members across the fruited plain to be ginning up a panic over these tiny cuts is truly pathetic, and they should all be ashamed of themselves.
