Republican opposition to the current version of the “Big, Beautiful Bill” had President Donald Trump calling out one senator in particular for “playing right into the hands of the Democrats.”
Before his return to the White House, the president had been urging Congress to raise or eliminate the debt ceiling as a means to facilitate the tax cuts he intended to champion. Now, as roadblocks cropped up in the form of fiscal conservatives and opposition to omnibus packages, Trump chided Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and suggested his own constituents “will never forgive him!”
“If Senator Rand Paul votes against our Great, Big, Beautiful Bill, he is voting for, along with the Radical Left Democrats, a 68% Tax Increase and, perhaps even more importantly, a first time ever default on US Debt,” contended the president Saturday on Truth Social, days after Paul had told “Fox News Sunday” he considered the cuts in the bill, “wimpy and anemic” as the spending would “explode the debt” anywhere from $4 trillion to $5 trillion.
“Rand will be playing right into the hands of the Democrats, and the GREAT people of Kentucky will never forgive him! The GROWTH we are experiencing, plus some cost cutting later on, will solve ALL problems,” argued Trump. “America will be greater than ever before!”
The public back-and-forth continued when the senator appeared on CBS News’ “Face the Nation” Sunday and told host Margaret Brennan, “Well, the math doesn’t really add up. One of the things this big and beautiful bill is, is it’s a vehicle for increasing spending for the military and for the border. It’s about $320 billion in new spending. To put that in perspective, that’s more than all the DOGE cuts that we found so far.”
Providing a specific example, Paul detailed, “So, the increase in spending put into this bill exceeds the DOGE cuts. When you look just at the border wall, they have $46.5 billion for the border wall. Well, the current estimate from the CBP is $6.5 million per mile. So, if you did 1,000 miles, that’s $6.5 billion, but they have $46 billion. So, they’ve inflated the cost of the wall eightfold. So, there’s a lot of new spending that has to be counteracted. But essentially, this is a bill by the military industrial complex advocates who are padding the military budget. There’s going to be a lot of extra money.”
“Look, the president has essentially stopped the border flow without … new money and without any new legislation. So, I think they’re asking for too much money,” he went on. “And in the end, the way you add it up to see if it actually is going to save money or add money, is how much debt are they going to borrow — $5 trillion over two years, an enormous amount.”
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. pic.twitter.com/m9sTuDiGZK
— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) June 1, 2025
The senator noted he had at least three Republican peers opposed to the bill in its current form, “and I would be very surprised if the bill, at least, is not modified in a good direction.”
Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, Utah Sen. Mike Lee and Florida Sen. Rick Scott had all spoken up about the increased spending as they instead were vying to return to spending levels prior to COVID.
Paul went on to laud the tax cuts under Trump’s first administration and argued, “They should have been satisfied by just doing the tax part of this and not getting involved in the debt part of it.”
The president himself had said that he was open to the Senate improving on the current state of the bill, as he had told reporters, “I want the Senate and the senators to make the changes they want. It will go back to the House, and we’ll see if we can get them. In some cases, the changes may be something I’d agree with, to be honest.”
Much like Congress itself, reactions to debate over the bill were mixed as many agreed that Trump’s plan needed to be advanced without delay, while others believed it should not be done at the expense of ballooning the debt.
Thank you for slowing the progress and not working to compromise.
I have always been an ardent supporter of you and your father, but you are wrong more and more while this huge transition is going on.
I expected you to even try to speak to Trump to better understand.
Sad/done.— Just Jack (@JackHisey210483) June 2, 2025
I’m planning on voting you out in KY. You are going against the will of the people too much lately. Change gears or get the hell out of the way!
— Rapture Ready (@RaptureR16550) June 2, 2025
Rand Paul is a great senator, but he should support Trump’s One, Big, Beautiful Bill.
The Republican Party needs to come together.— Liz (@YukiusagiYY) June 1, 2025
They need to cut out of the wasteful spending and then present a new beautiful responsible bill with line item veto included for the President to eliminate the garage added at the last minute.
— JUSTIFIED (@FlyNdeOintment) June 1, 2025
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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