Rand Paul Includes Relief, Funding Bill in 'Festivus' Grievances

Sen. Rand Paul Wednesday aired his grievances about the $2.3 trillion omnibus bill on coronavirus relief and government funding as part of his annual "Festivus" report on government spending.

"We've got a bridge that's broken over the Ohio River," the Kentucky Republican said on Fox News' "Fox and Friends." "We've wanted a new bridge for 10 years and we spent money (for) Pakistan for gender studies. We can't build our own country because we're too busy rebuilding everybody else's country."

Paul uses his annual report, named for a Christmas alternate holiday made popular in a 1997 episode of "Seinfeld," to point out wasteful government spending. 

“It is more important than ever for Congress to find its fiscal backbone," Paul wrote in his report. "Our debt puts at risk the long-term solvency of major programs such as Social Security. And why? To pay for test tubes for COVID tests that turn out to be soda bottles? To see if hot tubbing a few times a week eases stress?"

Paul tweeted that the bill passed this week includes funding for places like Sri Lanka and Pakistan and that the 5,600-page document "was written in secret, put in public 6 hours before the vote, and read by NOT ONE person in the body. Not. One. We will spend all week and probably longer trying to figure out all that was wrong with it." 

One of Paul's biggest grievances was that the National Science Foundation, which "spends about $8 billion every year" last year spent $1 million to determine if "you take a selfie of yourself while smiling and then you look at it, later on, will that make you happy?" 

Paul on Wednesday also aired an unrelated grievance against New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., Wednesday because she got a COVID-19 vaccination. 

"Until everybody in the nursing home who has not got a vaccine gets one, until every 80- year-old, 70-year-old, 60- year-old, 50-year-old, 40- year-old gets one, AOC should be at the end of the line waiting her turn because she's at very low risk," he said 

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