Breitbart Op-Ed: "Is Quid Pro Quo the Status Quo?"

Isn’t all foreign aid supposed to be quid pro quo?
 
We give you this aid — on the expectation that you will not steal any of it for personal use, that you will spend it as we instruct, and on the understanding that if you don’t spend the money as we command, you won’t get any more next year.
 
Democrats want people to be alarmed by a Latin phrase, but, really, making foreign aid contingent on behavior is actually the defining reason that countries supposedly give aid — to influence the behavior of the receiving country.
 
For example,...Read more

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Fox News Op-Ed: "Syria, Turkey, the Kurds and the right role for the US – A roadmap for peace"

President Trump did the wise thing by moving 50 soldiers out of the way of tens of thousands of invading Turks. There can be no doubt that the situation in Northern Syria involving Turkey, the Kurds, and Syria is messy, complicated, and potentially costly. The only questions are for whom, as well as what is the role of the United States.
 
Regarding the problem with the Turks and the Kurds, we have to realize a certain reality: the Turks and Kurds were fighting before we arrived in Syria … or even Iraq. They were fighting while we were there. And they will be fighting after...Read more

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USA Today Op-Ed: "President Donald Trump moves to stop 'endless wars.' I stand with him"

President Donald Trump campaigned on a very specific foreign policy. “America First” has its roots in the less-interventionist policies of our Founding Fathers.
 
Then-candidate Trump said often that the Iraq War was a mistake, and that we were in too many places for too long. Fast-forward to 2019, and the president is now moving forward to stop the “endless wars.” I stand with him.
 
The idea that our president would make this decision from this perspective is refreshing and long-awaited. Virtually every president in my lifetime has ended up in a new conflict...Read more

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Breitbart Op-Ed: "Rand Paul on the Fake Witch Hunts: BASTA!"

When will it end?
 
Ever since Donald Trump was declared the winner of the 2016 presidential election, Democrats have been on a mission to reverse those results, even though it’s meant dragging the country through one desperate witch hunt after another.
 
Now we turn the page to the latest chapter, with U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday announcing “an official impeachment inquiry” stemming in...Read more

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Breitbart Op-Ed: "Disingenuous Republicans at the Spending Trough"

Some say that it is irresponsible NOT to raise the debt ceiling.
 
Well, true fiscal conservatives say it’s irresponsible to raise the debt ceiling without any reform of our profligate spending.
 
To allow the debt limit to go up an infinite amount, as much as Congress can possibly spend over nearly a two-year period, is about as fiscally irresponsible as has ever been seen in our history.
 
The federal government is spending nearly $2 million every minute.
 
The annual deficit this year will exceed $1.2 trillion.
 ...Read more

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Louisville Courier-Journal Op-Ed: "We must continue the fight against selling arms to Saudi Arabia"

Saudi Arabia disregards basic human rights, slaughters innocents in Yemen, horrifically murders dissidents, puts millions on the edge of starvation and supports and strengthens our enemies.

One would think it would be an easy choice to not sell our weapons to such a country, but like every push for positive change in Washington, getting Congress to take a stand on this issue has been a hard-fought battle.

Recently, we gained a major victory, when more than 50 senators voted to pass 22 joint resolutions of disapproval to block over $8 billion in American weapons and support...Read more

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News Journal Op-Ed: "Say goodbye to Obama’s power plant rule and hello to energy independence"

It looks like it’s finally time to say goodbye to President Obama’s power plant rule – and hello to energy independence.

I am thrilled to join Kentuckians this week in celebrating our latest victory in our ongoing fight to end the War on Coal, with the Trump administration announcing their finalized Affordable Clean Energy rule. This would replace President Obama’s overreaching Clean Power Plan rule and finally return power to the states when it comes to implementing clean energy standards.

Rolling back some of the most egregious examples of government overreach on Kentucky...Read more

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Fox News Op-Ed: "Stop arming radical jihadism"

The Middle East is a hot cauldron continually threatening to boil over.

It is a mistake to funnel arms into centuries-old conflicts.

There is no great certainty that the arms we send into the Middle East will not one day be used against our soldiers. In fact, there is a real threat that someday our young soldiers will be sent to fight against the very weapons Congress sends today.

It has happened. In Iran, to this day, the military still has some U.S. weapons left over from weapons the U.S. supplied to the shah. In Iraq, some of the weapons we gave the country to...Read more

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Lexington Herald-Leader Op-Ed: "We must get our spending under control. We can start by saving pennies."

When I ran to be your senator, I promised to stand apart in Washington.

I gave Kentucky my word to fight back against endless spending and debt, and it’s a commitment I have proudly kept since my first day in office. It’s meant confronting long odds and not winning the “most popular” vote in the halls of Congress all that often, but it’s always been worth the trade-off.

While some would say it’s “unrealistic” to expect things to change any time soon, I haven’t given up. This week I reintroduced a concrete plan to get spending under control right away and balance the budget...Read more

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Fox News Op-Ed: "I support President Trump, but I can't support this National Emergency Declaration"

In September of 2014, I had these words to say: "The president acts like he's a king. He ignores the Constitution. He arrogantly says, 'If Congress will not act, then I must.'

Donald J. Trump agreed with me when he said in November 2014 that President Barack Obama couldn’t make a deal on immigration so “now he has to use executive action, and this is a very, very dangerous thing that should be overridden easily by the Supreme Court.”

I would literally lose my political soul if I decided to treat President Trump different than President Obama. (Although, I’ll note...Read more

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