Rand Paul: “I rise today in opposition to raising the debt ceiling. I rise particularly in opposition to raising the debt ceiling…”

“I rise today in opposition to raising the debt ceiling. I rise particularly in opposition to raising the debt ceiling without getting any sort of spending reform or budgetary reform in return. In fact, it will be completely the opposite. We will be raising the debt ceiling in an unlimited fashion. We will be giving President Obama a free pass to borrow as much money as he can borrow in the last year of his office--no dollar limit. Here you go, President Obama, spend what you want. We do this while also exceeding what are called budget caps. We have been trying to have spending restraint in Washington. It hasn't worked very well, but at least there are some numbers the government is not supposed to exceed. These include spending caps for military spending as well as domestic spending. When I first arrived in 2010, I was part of the movement called the tea party movement. We came into prominence, and I was elected primarily because I was concerned about the debt, worried about the debt we were leaving to our kids and our grandkids, worried that we were destroying the very fabric of the country with debt. We came here in 2010, and we negotiated and negotiated, and President Obama said: I won't negotiate with you. I won't negotiate with a gun to my head. The media said: You always have to raise the debt ceiling. It is irresponsible to use that as leverage to get reform. But you know what. We did get reform.…”