Republican Sen. Rand Paul said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” the tea-party movement has unfinished business dating back to the election in 2010.
Paul, who will deliver the tea party response to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address Feb. 12, said he will bring up issues Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, of Florida, will not.
“This isn’t about he and I,” Paul, a Kentuckian, said. “This is about the tea party. None of the things I ran on as part of the tea party have been fixed. We’re still going down a hole, as far as the debt crisis looming.”
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He said the tea party wants an “independent voice” to be heard that night, as opposed to a Republican voice.
“I think really there are some things that I will emphasize that maybe Marco doesn’t,” Paul said. “There are some things that distinguish a lot of different Republicans. It doesn’t make them bad, or me right, or them wrong.”
Of all the things beleaguering the country, debt is No. 1, Paul said.
“The president’s now caterwauling about the sequester, so are many Republicans,” he said. “Tea-party people are saying the sequester’s a pittance.”
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