Rand Paul Concerned About ‘Sexually Promiscuous’ Coked-Up Quails Getting Federal Funding
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) revived one of his favorite talking points about runaway federal spending on Tuesday – the one about coke-fueled sex among Japanese quails.
Speaking on the Senate floor in opposition to a $40 billion aid package to help Ukraine in its fight against Russia, the senator suggested existing federal funds be diverted to pay for it. Instead, he stated, the money consists of new spending.
“If the defense of Ukraine is really in our national security interests, shouldn’t the gift come from our military budget?” Paul asked. “What about cutting wasteful spending? My office cataloged over $50 billion in waste.”
Paul referenced several unusual spending items, including money to fund studies on selfies, Panamanian frogs, and sneezing in cafeterias. Then came the crème de la crème.
“Couldn’t we maybe cut the money spent on Japanese quail studying whether or not they’re more sexually promiscuous or not when you give them cocaine?” he asked.
Paul has cited this example several times over the years. Last year he brought it up in the chamber as a doctored photo of a quail with its head buried in a pile of cocaine appeared on an easel next to him, like so:
He used the same graphic during a floor speech in 2018.
The problem is, the federal government can’t redirect money from funding studies about horny coked-up quails because the government isn’t funding studies about coked-up horny quails – at least not anymore.
As the Washington Post noted last year, “You can look up data on NIH grants. This particular research was called “Enhancement of Sexual Motivation” and it did, in fact, receive $873,503 from the agency over the course of its progress. But that funding ended more than five years ago. It ended before Paul raised it in 2018.”
The Post cited an article in Scientific American pointing out that while the study sounds ridiculous on its face, it may have broader implications for humans.
“There is already an extensive literature on drugs like cocaine, how it impacts various behaviors and how it acts in, and changes, the brains,” said the publication. “But we don’t know everything by any means, and we certainly don’t know enough about mechanism to treat cocaine addiction effectively. Studies to understand how cocaine impacts every behavior are important to our understanding of the drug and how we can combat its effects.”
The Senate is set to vote on the aid package this week because last week Paul objected when Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) attempted to pass it via unanimous consent.
Watch above via C-SPAN.
