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Rand Paul Says “50/50” Chance House Will Authorize Force in Syria; Senate a “Rubber Stamp”

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syria-assad

A leading skeptic of U.S. intervention in conflicts abroad said Sunday that he believes there is only a “50/50” chance that the GOP-controlled House will vote to authorize the use of U.S military force in the Syria.

“I think it’s at least 50/50 whether the House will vote down involvement in the Syrian war,” Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky said on NBC’s Meet the Press.

“I think the Senate will rubber stamp what [Obama] wants but I think the House will be a much closer vote,” he added. “And there are a lot of questions we have to ask.”

Paul, a staunch defender of civil liberties who has battled against members of his own party over the government’s use of drones and NSA data collection programs, said he believes it’s a “mistake” to get involved in a civil war in Syria that could escalate “out of control.”

But he praised President Barack Obama’s announcement Saturday that he will seek congressional authority for military intervention in the civil war-torn country.

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Kerry says Congress won’t turn its back on the Syrian people

By Mackenzie Weinger.

Secretary of State John Kerry on Sunday said he “can’t contemplate” that Congress would not authorize military action against the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad and therefore “turn its back on” the United States’ allies in the region and “on innocent Syrian people who have been slaughtered by this gas.”

Host Chris Wallace asked Kerry on “Fox News Sunday” what would happen if Congress refused to give its authorization for military action in Syria, and Kerry replied that he does not believe that will happen.

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Rand Paul: Immigration Reform Would Be the Final Thing Boehner Did as Speaker (+video)

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Photo Credit: Daily Caller

Photo Credit: Daily Caller

On Laura Ingraham’s Friday radio show, Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul said that if Speaker of the House John Boehner passed an immigration reform bill similar to the Gang of Eight’s, it would be “final things he did as speaker.”

Paul offered an update on Congress’ immigration reform efforts: Earlier this summer, the Democratic-controlled U.S. Senate passed its version of immigration reform legislation. Despite that, Paul still lobbied for his amendment that would put Congress in charge of making sure the border is secure.

“I’m not hearing much,” Paul said. “It’s gone pretty quiet on it. And I still think they’re still working on something in the House and the conservative members that have come up to me — what I keep saying and what I come back to is my amendment is trust but verify and in my amendment, I say you have to have congressional votes each year for about five years and each time we have to vote to say the border is more secure.”

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Paul, Cruz Plan Anti-Obamacare Rally

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

Obamacare opponents are planning a defunding rally for the first day lawmakers return from August recess and just three weeks before millions can start enrolling in coverage.

Republican Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Mike Lee of Utah), who have been leading calls in the Senate to defund the law in any spending bills, will headline the Sept. 10 Exempt America from Obamacare event, organized by Tea Party Patriots and ForAmerica, along with other conservative groups.

“Democrats will stop at nothing to protect the president’s signature legislation, and too many Republicans are afraid to fight,” rally organizers wrote.

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Rand Paul: Hold Obama Accountable for Benghazi Cover-up

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Photo Credit: NewsmaxDid Hillary Clinton tell the truth? She appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in January and testified that she had no knowledge of a CIA gun-running operation in Benghazi.

Clinton’s exact words were, “You’ll have to direct that question to the agency that ran the annex,” and then she claimed that she did not know whether a gun-running operation was taking place.

In March, The New York Times reported that the CIA has been involved with secret shipments of weapons to Syria for over a year: “The airlift, which began on a small scale in early 2012 and continued intermittently through last fall, expanded into a steady and much heavier flow late last year, the data shows. It has grown to include more than 160 military cargo flights by Jordanian, Saudi, and Qatari military-style cargo planes landing at Esenboga Airport near Ankara, and, to a lesser degree, at other Turkish and Jordanian airports.”

CNN now reports that at least 35 American agents were in Benghazi and the CIA is doing everything possible to prevent them from testifying to Congress.

Did Clinton lie because the CIA program was classified? Is it OK to lie to Congress about classified programs?

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Rand Paul: ‘Old Guard’ Losing Elections

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Photo Credit: APSen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said he agrees with those that say there is pushback from the Republican establishment when the party faces heat from factions such as the libertarian wing.

Newt Gingrich said Thursday that he thinks the establishment is growing “more hysterical” as Paul and fellow Republican Sen. Ted Cruz rise in prominence. Paul said Friday on “The Laura Ingraham Show” that he thinks the establishment needs to welcome new ideas.

“I think there’s some truth to that and I think the other thing about it is that the old guard needs to realize they’re the ones that have been losing the last couple of elections,” Paul said. “If we want to win for presidency we have to compete in the states where we’re not competing. Precisely, up in the northeast and on the west coast where Republicans are basically on life support. We need to reach out with issues that may attract new people to the party.”

One of the most divisive issues in the GOP has been the threat from some, including Paul, Cruz and fellow Sen. Mike Lee, to shut down the government as a means to defund Obamacare. Paul said he does not support shutting down the government, but rather using the continuing resolution as leverage against the president’s signature health care law.

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Christie Turns Down Sen. Paul’s Beer Summit Offer (+video)

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Ouch. By Fox News. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie turned down an offer by Sen. Rand Paul to join him for a beer and bury the hatchet in their ongoing — and very public — feud.

“I’m running for re-election in New Jersey. I don’t really have time for that at the moment,” Christie said in an interview on a local radio station.

The New Jersey governor said if he finds himself in Washington, “I’ll certainly look him up.” But he added: “I don’t suspect I’ll be there anytime soon. I’ve got work to do here.”

Christie gave Paul the brush-off after the Kentucky senator, in an interview with Fox News, offered Wednesday to make nice with the Garden State guv.

“I think with Governor Christie it’s gotten a little too personal, so we’re ready to kiss and make up,” Paul told Fox News. He said “anytime he would like to come down and sit at a pub right around the corner from the Senate — we’ll have a beer.”

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No time for beer, Christie heads to Vegas for fundraising with casino billionaire

By Alexandra Jaffe. For Gov. Chris Christie (R-N.J.), raising money trumps drinking beer.

Christie, who on Wednesday snubbed Sen. Rand Paul’s (R-Ky.) offer to settle their feud over some suds, is fundraising Thursday at a private event held by billionaire casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, according to the Las Vegas Sun.

News of Christie’s Vegas jaunt comes after the New Jersey governor said he didn’t have time to travel to Washington to share a drink with Paul because he was too busy. Read more from this story HERE.

Senate Overwhelmingly Kills Rand Paul’s Bill to Cut Off Aid to Egypt and, Instead, Rebuild Nation’s Bridges

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Photo Credit: Life NewsThe Senate on Wednesday overwhelmingly rejected a proposal by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., to cut off aid to Egypt.

The Kentucky conservative proposed the measure as a way to override the Obama administration’s refusal to classify the recent political upheaval in Egypt as a “military coup” — a move that by law would’ve frozen aid to the north African country.

The proposal called for redirecting the $1.5 billion in mainly military assistance the U.S. provides Egypt each year to bridge-building projects in the U.S.

The measure, which failed by a vote of 83-13, was attached as an amendment to a transportation and housing spending bill.

Paul, who is mulling a 2016 presidential run, casted his debate in terms of refocusing U.S. government efforts to rebuild the nation’s crumbling infrastructure.

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Rand Paul Gets Feisty with “King of Bacon” Chris Christie as the War of Words Heats Up (+videos)

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Photo Credit: Reuters By Ashley Killough. The feuding between Republicans Chris Christie and Rand Paul continued Tuesday as the senator from Kentucky cautioned the governor from New Jersey was picking a fight with the wrong guy.

In an interview on CNN’s “The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer,” Paul defended himself against Christie’s most recent allegations that the senator was bringing home too much money for his state.

“This is the king of bacon talking about bacon,” Paul said about Christie. Both are considered potential 2016 contenders for the Republican presidential nomination.

Earlier in the day, the outspoken governor chastised Kentucky for taking more federal money than New Jersey, saying the Blue Grass state gets back $1.51 on every dollar it sends to Washington, while the Garden State receives 61 cents.

“So if Senator Paul wants to start looking at where he’s going to cut spending to afford defense, maybe he should start cutting the pork barrel spending that he brings home to Kentucky,” Christie told reporters Tuesday in Little Ferry.

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Photo Credit: Daily CallerThe Christie-Paul battle continues

By Alexis Levinson. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie launched another attack in his ongoing battle with Republican Sen. Rand Paul, dismissing him as a “Washington politician” and criticizing him for taking pork for his home state of Kentucky.

Speaking on a panel in Colorado last week, Christie described the libertarian approach to foreign policy as “dangerous,” and acknowledged that Paul was one of the people engaging in that approach. Since then, the two likely 2016 Republican presidential contenders have lobbed insults back and forth at each other.

“I was asked a question at a forum in Aspen and I gave an answer,” Christie said Tuesday. “Now, I know that for politicians in Washington, DC this a completely foreign concept. They think that there has to be some, like, master plan behind every utterance you make. You’ve covered me long enough to know that there often is not. If you ask me a question, I give an answer. That’s what people expect from people in public life and that’s what I did.”

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Rand Paul on Christie’s attacks: ‘Not very smart’

By Alec Hill. Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul called New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s criticisms of him “not very smart” during an appearance on Fox News’ Hannity Monday night, adding that disrespect for the Bill of Rights is even more dangerous than the “strain of libertarianism” that Christie had criticized.

“I think what is dangerous in our country is to forget that we have a Bill of Rights,” Paul said, “to forget about privacy, to give up on all of our liberty to say, We’re going to catch terrorism, but you have to live in a police state.”

The two have been engaged in a war of words ever since Christie disparaged “a strain of libertarianism that is going through both parties right now and making big headlines” as “a very dangerous thought” at a forum of the Aspen Institute in Colorado on July 25.

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Rep. King, Gov. Christie Attack Rand Paul’s Opposition to NSA’s Warrantless Surveillance

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Photo Credit: APRep. Peter King on Rand Paul: ‘This is the anti-war, left-wing Democrats of the 1960s’

By Joseph Lawler. New York Rep. Peter King harshly criticized Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and other fellow Republicans Sunday for failing to stand by America’s anti-terrorist policies, saying that he worried they would ultimately destroy the Republican Party.

Appearing on CNN’s State of the Union, King said that his overriding concern is national defense, and that “when you have Rand Paul actually comparing [fugitive leaker Edward] Snowden to Martin Luther King or Henry David Thoreau, this is madness.”

“This is the anti-war, left-wing Democrats of the 1960s that nominated George McGovern and destroyed their party for almost 20 years,” King said. “I don’t want that happening to our party.” Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: APRand Paul hits back at Chris Christie

By Associated Press. Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul hit back at New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie in the two Republicans’ ongoing spat over national security.

Christie last week criticized Paul’s opposition to warrantless federal surveillance programs, saying it harmed efforts to prevent terrorism. Paul told reporters after speaking at a fundraiser outside Nashville on Sunday that Christie’s position hurts GOP chances in national elections, and that spending priorities of critics like the governor and Rep. Peter King of New York do more to harm national security.

“They’re precisely the same people who are unwilling to cut the spending, and their `Gimme, gimme, gimme – give me all my Sandy money now.’” Paul said, referring to federal funding after the hurricane last year. “Those are the people who are bankrupting the government and not letting enough money be left over for national defense.”

King in a phone interview late Sunday called Paul’s criticism of Sandy aid “indefensible.”

“This was absolutely life or death money that was essential to New York and New Jersey,” King said. Read more from this story HERE.

Rand Paul: Use Egypt’s Foreign Aid to Rebuild our Crumbling Bridges Here at Home

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Photo Credit: APAimages/Rex FeaturesRand Paul targets Egypt aid

By Julian Pecquet. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) plans to use next week’s vote on transportation spending to end aid to Egypt following the ouster of the country’s freely elected president.

Paul’s amendment comes as a growing number of senators are rebelling against the White House’s decision not to call Mohamed Morsi’s ouster a military coup, a declaration that would automatically freeze the $1.5 billion in mostly military aid the U.S. provides every year.

The foreign aid skeptic proposes spending the money on the country’s crumbling bridges instead, an issue that has bipartisan appeal.

“It is no secret that our nation’s roads and bridges are crumbling at an increasing rate, many of which are in critical stages of disrepair,” Paul said in introducing the amendment.

“Instead of sending taxpayer money to countries that are ineligible to receive our aid, like Egypt, we should be directing that money to these pressing domestic needs.” Read more from this story HERE.

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Morsi supporters pledge to stand firm after massacre

By Patrick Kingsley. Supporters of the overthrown Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi have pledged to maintain their weeks-old sit-in in east Cairo, despite the massacre of scores of their comrades by state officials on Saturday.

At least 65 pro-Morsi protesters were shot dead during an eight-hour attack by police officers and armed men dressed in civilian clothes. An ambulance official said the death toll was 72; the Muslim Brotherhood said 66 had died and a further 61 were braindead in hospital.

“No one’s going anywhere,” said Abdel-Rahman Daour, one of several spokespeople at the sit-in outside the Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque. “We either have freedom or we die. We’re not going to live in a country without freedom.”

Tens of thousands of Morsi supporters have camped outside the mosque since late June when the president’s overthrow began to seem likely. Egypt’s interior minister has made it clear that he intends to clear Rabaa as soon as possible, and Saturday’s massacre in a nearby street was considered an attempt to intimidate the protesters.

On Friday hundreds of thousands of anti-Morsi protesters turned out in support of a call by Egypt’s army chief, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, for a crackdown on what he called terrorists – a move sceptics saw as a veiled threat to protesters at Rabaa. Read more from this story HERE.