Trump Drags Rand Paul for Blocking Bill to Withhold Pay From Senators: ‘He Wanted to Be Paid!’

AP Photo/Evan Vucci

On Friday, President Donald Trump took to Truth Social to drag Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) for blocking a bill aimed at withholding pay from members of Congress amidst the ongoing government shutdown, writing, “He wanted to be paid!”

Yesterday, Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) introduced the No Shutdown Paychecks to Politicians Act and the Withhold Member Pay During Shutdowns Act, both of which would prevent members of Congress from collecting pay — including back pay — during a government shutdown. Kennedy needed unanimous consent, but Paul objected, arguing that federal employees should be paid first.

“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,” wrote Trump on Truth Social, “because he wanted to be paid! In other words, Rand wanted to pay the people who stopped Government from working! What’s going on with Rand?”

Notably, Kennedy responded to Paul’s objection by instead moving to advance Senator Ron Johnson’s (R-WI) failed Shutdown Fairness Act, which aimed to ensure that all active essential federal workers would receive their pay during the shutdown. The motion was shot down by Senator Patty Murray (D-WA).

This isn’t the first Trump–Paul tiff in recent weeks, with Trump calling the senator a “nasty liddle guy” that “went really BAD” after he criticized the administration’s deadly strikes on suspected drug boats in the Caribbean. Paul doubled down in a late October interview with Piers Morgan, arguing the attacks are “summary execution” and warning they set a “recipe for chaos,” even as he said he still enjoys Trump’s company most of the time.