U.S. Senator Rand Paul discussing federal spending to people The Old Pogue Experience at the Kentucky Gateway Museum Center.
Lauren Tatman/The Ledger Independent
U.S. Senator Rand Paul talking with the Mayor of Maysville Debra Cotterill.
Lauren Tatman/The Ledger Independent
United States Senator Rand Paul visited Maysville and the Old Pogue Experience where he discussed government spending.
On Friday, Oct. 25, Mason County Judge Executive Owen McNeill welcomed Paul to Maysville.
“Dr. Paul’s proven to be an outspoken champion for constitutional liberty and fiscal responsibility. As a fierce advocate against government overreach, Dr. Paul has fought tirelessly to return government to its limited constitutional scope,” McNeill stated.
He further noted that since 2010, Paul had frequently visited Maysville and had been an advocate for the increase of Ohio River transportation.
As Paul was introduced he walked towards the front of the room and said, “It’s good to be back here in Maysville, one of the prettiest towns in Kentucky I have to tell you.”
He explained that he had been going around the state to make a contrast of good government and bad government.
“I come from the “big bad government” and your local government is doing a better job,” Paul expressed.
The local government and state legislature spend what is brought in according to Paul.
“Your state legislature has been doing an extraordinary job, they’ve been saving money there’s now a rainy day fund with a couple billion dollars in it,” Paul stated.
He noted that the federal rainy day fund was minus 35 trillion and explained that the federal government borrows money instead of spending what is brought in like the local government.
“In the last three weeks, we borrowed $473 billion in three weeks. The interest payment on our debt is almost a trillion dollars, it’s crowding out everything else,” Paul said.
According to Paul when you have a trillion dollars of spending, it is on interest and will not buy you anything including things like paving roads and national defense.
Paul suggested, “All we have to do is do something that all of you do. Every one of you balances your budget, you balance your family budget we balance our county, our city, our state.”
He further suggested that the problem in the federal government may be too much compromise and that it was decided in Washington that entitlements would not be touched.
“The $6.8 trillion we spend, about $4 trillion in change is Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and food stamps so we don’t do anything. There’s been no reform in decades to any of those programs,” Paul stated.
He further suggested that something needed to be fixed because those are consuming a lot of money.
“What we did is entitlements are taken off the table and that’s about two-thirds of all spending,” Paul explained.
Paul suggested that instead of cutting off something that each party would want or a little of what everyone would want they could freeze spending for a few years and the economy could grow out of annual debts.
“The first thing you have to do is get rid of the annual deficit, and people say ‘That is so unrealistic that’s so old fashioned nobody is for that anymore’. Well, the European Union has 28 countries, 16 out of 28 balance their budgets,” Paul said.
He said if the federal government had been built like the local government people would pay taxes and they could figure out how to appropriately spend it.
“Instead we bring in $4.8 trillion and we spend $6.8 trillion. It’s not going to last forever, it is what causes inflation,” Paul explained.
He said that both parties are part of the spending problem. According to Paul, there was $8 trillion borrowed during the Trump administration and during the current Biden and Harris administration $8 trillion will be borrowed.
“The prosperity we have in historical terms is amazing, we sometimes get lost, we bicker with each other we have disagreements and we really don’t fully comprehend the prosperity we have in historical terms,” Paul expressed.
He noted that 58 percent of people in Kentucky are working and 42 percent do not work.
After concluding his speech the floor was opened to questions from those who were present.
A question was asked on what Paul thought about the upcoming election and he expressed that he believed it will be close.
Someone raised the question of what Paul thought about Amendment 2 and he replied, “All Amendment 2 does is it allows the state legislature to debate different solutions or possible solutions to change and improve education.”
The question was brought up asking Paul about the aftermath of Hurricane Helene to which he stated he and his staff were on the ground in Eastern and Western Kentucky.
It was noted that supplies were sent and dropped off to people.
The last question raised was regarding interest rates and them coming down.
“We all would want interest rates lower, but interest rates are a price. So they are a price of money and what interest rates do is they tell you if a lot of people want the money, the demand for the money the price of the money goes up,” Paul stated.
He further expressed;
“Try to be as light touch and as little involvement in determining what the interest rates are because frankly as they rise they slow the economy down but they can slow the economy down in a gradual fashion,” Paul said.
McNeill expressed that is was a pleasure hosting Paul at the Kentucky Gateway Museum Center’s Old Pogue Experience.
“No group serves as more gracious ambassadors or epitomizes that momentum more than our friends John, Peter and Henry Pogue of Old Pogue Distillery. We spent time highlighting the history of Old Pogue and discussing the positive impact they’ve had on our tourism and economy as a whole, attracting thousands of visitors to our area each year,” McNeill stated.
