GOP Sen. Markwayne Mullin (Okla.) recently told a group of voters that Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is a “freaking snake.”
Mullin railed against Paul as someone who frequently bucks the Republican Party on crucial votes, according to reporting by Oklahoma journalist David Arnett.
The Oklahoma senator was speaking to the McGrath Breakfast Group in Tulsa, Okla., last Saturday, when he was asked about voting against an amendment to a bill in the upper chamber.
Mullin said he thwarted a government shutdown by voting against the amendment, which would have killed the bill and other appropriations opposing President Trump’s push for a minibus last month before a funding deadline.
“I respect Bernie Sanders because he’s an open socialist, and you know that he’s a communist so you know what you’re getting. Rand Paul’s a freaking snake,” he said Saturday, according to Arnett’s Substack.
Earlier this year, Paul bucked the party on the summer spending package, earning harsh criticism from Trump and his GOP colleagues.
The Kentucky lawmaker also joined six other Republicans in voting against advancing a six-bill funding package last week.
The package failed in a 45-55 vote that would have required Democratic support for approval.
Mullin further addressed his decision to vote against Paul’s amendment, which called for removing $5 billion from the bill for refugee welfare programs, at the Saturday event.
“The question is why did I vote to give illegals more money? I didn’t. The president made it very clear he wanted appropriation bills passed. If any amendment passes, it kills the whole bill. Rand Paul’s amendment sounds good, right? The problem is Rand knew that if that bill passed, it would kill the other eleven appropriation bills, which would throw us into the shutdown,” Mullin told the group.
“Rand doesn’t ever vote with [Republicans] when it comes to appropriation bills. I had to vote against it because if that would have passed, not only would it have killed the bill, but it would also have killed the farm bill which is tied to social programs. If you change the ratio you must redo the entire farm bill,” he added.
Mullin continued, “What Rand was trying to do was trying to kill the farm bill because he’s trying to legalize hemp for drinks in Kentucky because of tobacco industry shifts. There is always a backstory.”
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