All Entries in the "Rand Paul" Category

Republican leaders try to unify party at Frankfort rally

By Jack Brammer
jbrammer@herald-leader.com

FRANKFORT — Republicans tried to heal rifts from Tuesday’s primary elections for state offices and unify party support for November’s general election at a rally Saturday at party headquarters.

The two losing candidates for the Republican primary for governor — Louisville businessman Phil Moffett, who enjoyed widespread Tea Party support, and Jefferson County Clerk Bobbie Holsclaw, who prevailed in the state’s most populous county — were there to stand by party nominee David Williams.

But they said later that their roles in Williams’ fall campaign remain uncertain.

Rand Paul questioned about possible presidential bid in Lexington

By Jack Brammer
jbrammer@herald-leader.com

Republican U.S. Sen. Rand Paul was bombarded with questions about his possible bid for the presidency on Monday as he brought his message of limited government and his new Tea Party book to Lexington.

Paul, a Bowling Green eye surgeon who won his maiden political race last year with strong support from the Tea Party movement, told a crowd of nearly 400 at a Commerce Lexington luncheon that the nation’s main problem is its debt and that government is filled with “busy bodies” run amok with regulations.

On WVLK-AM 590’s Sue Wylie show earlier in the day and after his 18-minute Commerce Lexington speech, Paul was peppered with questions about his possible run for president next year.

On the radio show, Paul joked that he was rooming in Washington with his father, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, who is considering the race, and that he didn’t want to upset his landlord.

Senate convenes, Stein calls it “political theater”

By Beth Musgrave
bmusgrave@herald-leader.com

FRANKFORT — The state Senate convened Wednesday and appears posed to pass a series of resolutions to override some of Gov. Steve Beshear’s vetos of a budget fix designed to shore up Medicaid.

Senate Majority Leader Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, told the Senate Wednesday that it would recess so the Republicans and Democrats could caucus. When the Senate returns later Wednesday afternoon, it will consider resolutions that would override some language that Beshear vetoed in House Bill 1, which was passed by the House on March 24 and vetoed by Beshear on March 25.

McConnell leads charge against Obama environmental rules

By Halimah Abdullah and Renee Schoof — habdullah@mcclatchydc.com

WASHINGTON — In Kentucky, where coal mining has been the lifeblood of many rural communities, miners and the lawmakers who represent them say the Obama administration’s push for regulations that cap greenhouse gases and toughen mine permitting requirements feels like an assault.

In response, lawmakers from Kentucky and other mining states have battled the administration’s efforts through legislation designed to weaken the Environmental Protection Agency’s regulatory authority and by attacking agency director Lisa Jackson.

This week alone, there are three measures up for debate in the Senate that would revise critical parts of the Clean Air Act. The proposals, sponsored by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky, Senate finance committee chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., and Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.V., are vital to helping shore up the economy, say supporters.

“Americans are tired of the White House paying lip service to their struggles while quietly promoting effort after effort, either through legislation or through some back-door regulation, that make it harder, not easier, for businesses to create new jobs,” McConnell said on the Senate floor Tuesday.

Rand Paul grabs headlines, but his impact on national debt unclear

By Halimah Abdullah – habdullah@mcclatchydc.com

U.S. Sen. Rand Paul took the podium at a Rotary Club of Louisville meeting Thursday and started his speech with a joke about whether his boyish curls were real.

Then Kentucky’s junior senator — arguably the most high-profile face of the Tea Party movement — chided congressional predecessors on both sides of the aisle for not doing enough to curb the ballooning national debt and managed to slip in a few plugs for his new book, The Tea Party Goes to Washington, for good measure.

And, as he did all week, Paul played coy when asked about his 2012 presidential ambitions. He vowed not to run against his father, Republican U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, but added that “if he does not run I have not ruled it out.”

“Our debt is a serious problem,” Paul said. “That platform needs to be represented in 2012 and I want to influence who that candidate will be.”

With that, the newly-minted senator made national news — again.

In his first months in office, Paul has released a book, made the rounds on the national media circuit espousing his philosophy on debt reduction and authored a budget plan that calls for $4 trillion in cuts that he says will generate a $19 billion surplus in five years.

Although it’s too soon to discern exactly how much impact the Tea Party’s rising star will have on the congressional debate over reducing the debt, it’s clear that he has a knack for grabbing headlines.

Rand Paul coy about presidential ambitions

By Halimah Abdullah | McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky is coy when asked about his 2012 presidential ambitions.

“The only decision I’ve made is I won’t run against my dad,” Paul told the Post and Courier newspaper Monday during a visit to Charleston, S.C. His father, Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, has run twice for president — in 1988 as the nominee of the Libertarian Party and in 2008 in a bid for the Republican nomination.

Rand Paul visited South Carolina and has plans to hit several other key presidential primary states while promoting his new book, The Tea Party Goes to Washington, which was co-written by Jack Hunter, a Charleston-area radio host and columnist.

Paul’s presidential flirtation also came up during an interview last month with ABC News.

“Come back and ask me in a few months,” he told ABC.

Paul’s office declined to comment further Tuesday beyond referring to the comments the senator made during his recent South Carolina trip. During his Senate campaign, Paul said he was interested in elevating the tea party’s message of fiscal conservatism and helping shape the debate on federal spending and debt reduction.

Political Watchdog: Rand Paul’s claim about Obama and coal mostly false

By Halimah Abdullah – habdullah@mcclatchydc.com

The statement: “President Obama is on record saying he wants to bankrupt the coal industry … ”

— U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., in a March 3, 2011, news release

The ruling: Mostly false

The facts: There’s no evidence President Barack Obama has ever said he wants to bankrupt the coal industry, although Obama has proposed policies that he acknowledged might “bankrupt” anybody who builds a traditional coal-fired power plant.

Calls and e-mails to U.S. Sen. Rand Paul’s office for this story were not returned, but Paul’s statement probably refers to a comment Obama, who was then a presidential candidate, made during a Jan. 5, 2008, interview with the San Francisco Chronicle.

Changing his ways, Rogers helps lead GOP effort to cut spending

By Halimah Abdullah – habdullah@mcclatchydc.com

WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers is undergoing a makeover of sorts.

Widely known for steering federal dollars to projects in his district, the Somerset Republican and House Appropriations Committee chairman is now helping lead GOP efforts to trim fat from the federal budget.

He’s joined by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, himself no stranger to earmarks, and together the two Kentucky lawmakers are wielding enormous sway in the debate over cutting billions in federal spending.

“The American taxpayers have lost confidence in the way Washington is managing their money, and Chairman Rogers is working to repair this by cutting spending and stopping the overreach of government bureaucracy,” said House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio.

As recently as this week, Rogers was pivotal in helping craft and get passed a two-week federal funding stopgap to stave off a looming government shutdown. The measure slashes $4 billion from the federal budget by nixing funding for several education, highway and agricultural programs, among others.

Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul push for faster decisions on coal mine permits

By Halimah Abdullah
habdullah@mcclatchydc.com

WASHINGTON — Kentucky Sens. Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul introduced legislation Thursday designed to force the Environmental Protection Agency to decide more quickly whether to approve or deny permits mines need to operate under the Clean Water Act.

Dubbed the Mining Jobs Protection Act, the bill gives the EPA 60 days to approve or veto permit applications. If the agency doesn’t act within that time, the permit automatically moves forward.

“The EPA has turned the permitting process into a back door means of shutting down coal mines by sitting on permits indefinitely, thus removing any regulatory certainty,” McConnell, the minority leader, said on the Senate floor Thursday. “What they’re doing is outside the scope of their authority and the law and represents a fundamental departure from the permitting process as originally envisioned by Congress.”

The legislation, which was also sponsored by Sen. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, the ranking Republican on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, will move to that committee for consideration.

Paul names 2 state staffers

U.S. Sen. Rand Paul announced Monday that Louisville attorney Jim Milliman will be his state director and Tomkinsville native Whitney Meaddows will be his agricultural liaison and 3rd Congressional District field representative.

“I’m enthusiastic about the additions of Jim and Whitney to our state team. Their knowledge and devotion to issues in the Commonwealth is an invaluable asset to our in-state outreach,” Paul, R-Bowling Green, said in a statement.

Milliman is a commercial litigation attorney. Meadows is a former Kentucky agritourism director and field representative for former U.S. Sen. Jim Bunning.

–Jack Brammer