Kentucky Senator Rand Paul is in Iowa, meeting with fellow Republicans, talking about tariffs and government spending and admitting his views on those topics do not align with President Trump's.
"We have before us a 'big beautiful bill,' Paul said. "....But what if there's so much in it that we stuff stuff in it that's not good for the country. I think that's where we are...I think the spending cuts are wimpy and anemic."
Paul favors raising the retirement age for Social Security and Medicare and he argues deeper cuts are needed in Medicaid, too, since those three programs account for two-thirds of federal spending.
"I don't want to kick people off of Medicaid. I want to get them better insurance. I want to get them jobs with insurance. That's what we should talk about," Paul said this evening, "but if we don't do anything, there's just too many people on the wagon. We can't have everybody getting something for free."
Paul's main critique of the big bill that's cleared the House, at President Trump's urging, is that it fails to reign in federal spending and reduce the national debt.
"I think the debt is still the number one issue of our time and the biggest problem we have," Paul said. "I think it's the greatest threat to our national security. Destruction of the dollar could destroy our country and make us weak enough that we would actually crumble from within."
Paul made his comments tonight in West Des Moines at a Polk County Republican Party fundraiser. "Some of you may have heard I'm not a big fan of the tariffs. Does that mean President Trump and I don't get along? Well, he sends me text messages in all caps telling me why I'm wrong about tariffs," Paul said and the crowd laughed.
Paul described trade as "mutually beneficial" and he said there's no going back to a time when Americans make things like shoes. Later, Paul took questions from the crowd and two people cited some of Trump's arguments in favor of tariffs.
"A country run just on tariffs that's the size of the 19th century with no income tax -- sign me up," Paul said. "...I get a lot of criticism, look at my Twitter feed now, I've got a lot of people who love Donald Trump and aren't so sure about me anymore -- and they're like: 'You know he's going to get rid of the income tax,' and I was like: 'I'm hopeful, but I haven't seen any proposal to get rid of the income tax.'"
Senator Paul will be in Cedar Rapids tomorrow night, speaking at a fundraiser for the Iowa Republican Party. He is one of a few prominent Republicans making trips to Iowa, where the Iowa GOP's Caucuses have been the lead off event in presidential campaigns for decades. Rand Paul ran for president in 2016, finished fifth in that year's Iowa Caucus and dropped out of the race as Texan Ted Cruz and Trump emerged from Iowa as the leading candidates.