Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul (R) earned further ire from President Donald Trump as his latest stance was seen as less about principles and more about wanting “to be paid!”
Despite recently moving the goalposts, the Democratic Party’s government shutdown has lingered on through a sixth week, increasingly impacting more American lives. While the president has called on Senate Republicans to nuke the filibuster and set the stage for a bevy of votes on his top agenda items, Paul took a stand Friday against legislation he argued would further close down the government by preventing Congress from getting paid during the shutdown.
Taking to Truth Social, Trump wondered, “What’s going on with Rand?” as he addressed the lawmaker’s opposition to bills proposed by Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy (R). “It was so interesting yesterday when our Great Senator from Louisiana, John Kennedy, introduced a Bill in an attempt to withhold Members of Congress from getting paid, and Rand Paul, who never votes for anything, tried to stop it, because he wanted to be paid! In other words, Rand wanted to pay the people who stopped Government from working!”
On the Senate floor, Kennedy had asked for unanimous consent for the consideration of his No Shutdown Paychecks to Politicians Act and his Withhold Member Pay During Shutdowns Act, which had been read twice and referred to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, chaired by Paul.
In response, the Kentucky senator had stated in part, “I think it is time that instead of closing the government down further, we begin to open up government. What I will offer is legislation that, instead of closing government down further, begins to pay those who are working. It pays our soldiers, pays our air traffic controllers, pays everyone who is showing up for work. I think this should become a permanent feature of our government.”
JUST IN: Sen. Rand Paul officially moves to BLOCK Sen. John Kennedy’s measure to withhold Congressional members’ pay during the shutdown
Rand Paul says he doesn’t want to pay “less people” in a shutdown — “I want to pay more.”
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) November 6, 2025
Kennedy dismissed Paul’s suggestion he modify his request, insisting it was rehashing a bill proposed by Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson (R), the Shutdown Fairness Act, that he supports and “voted for several times,” arguing that his colleague’s legislation would not make it through the House of Representatives to reach the president’s desk — adding Trump would not sign it — but his own bill would make it and be approved.
The back and forth led to Paul’s ultimate objection to Kennedy’s bill efforts and a statement on X not long after the president’s that reaffirmed his position, “Tonight I voted again to pay federal workers, soldiers and to change the law so workers, soldiers are always paid during any future shutdowns.”
Meanwhile, Kennedy had shared the president’s statement and argued, “If we can’t fund the government, we don’t deserve our paychecks. That’s common sense to the American people, but unfortunately, common sense is illegal in Washington.”
Thank you, @POTUS!
If we can’t fund the government, we don’t deserve our paychecks.
That’s common sense to the American people, but unfortunately, common sense is illegal in Washington. pic.twitter.com/TZnwP5GgbT
— John Kennedy (@SenJohnKennedy) November 8, 2025
Trump’s latest knock against the senator came amid a series of stances taken by Paul in opposition to the White House, including his siding with Democrats against tariffs and his disfavor for military strikes against vessels suspected of trafficking drugs into the United States.
The latter had led the president to post on Truth Social, “Whatever happened to ‘Senator’ Rand Paul? He was never great, but he went really BAD! I got him elected, TWICE (in the Great Commonwealth of Kentucky!), but he just never votes positively for the Republican Party. He’s a nasty liddle’ guy, much like ‘Congressman’ Thomas Massie, aka Rand Paul Jr., also of Kentucky (which I won three times, in massive landslides!), a sick Wacko, who refuses to vote for our great Republican Party, MAGA, or America First. It’s really weird!!!”
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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