Kentucky Senator Rand Paul argued that under fellow GOP presidential candidate Florida Senator Marco Rubio’s child tax credit plan “my fear is, that many more illegal immigrants will be getting tax credits and welfare transfer” and that college campuses have become “kind of intolerant” on Thursday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “The Real Story with Gretchen Carlson.”
Rand said, “the real debate we had is over whether Marco Rubio is a fiscal conservative. And I think adding a trillion dollars worth of military expenditures that’s not paid for, and adding a trillion dollars in child tax credits that’s not paid for, I don’t think that’s very conservative. These child tax credits that he’s talking about currently have a 25% fraud rating, and improper payment rating, and the investigator general actually found that 4 billion dollars worth of these tax credits were going to illegal immigrants. So, I think if we do Marco Rubio’s plan, my fear is, that many more illegal immigrants will be getting tax credits and welfare transfer. And I just don’t think conservatives are for that.”
Rand also talked about national defense spending, where he argued defense should be a “priority, but it doesn’t mean a blank check.” He also criticized Rubio’s plans to increase defense spending.
The discussion then turned to the demonstrations on many college campuses, Rand stated, “it kind of boggles the mind. You know, comedians, famous comedians, Jerry Seinfeld has said he won’t perform on college campuses anymore, because they’ve become intolerant and they really have no sense of humor. … I think we need to have more speech. And you know, when I was a kid, when you left home, you entertained, and you met people in college, who had wildly different views than you, and that’s how your opinions were shaped. And college was great because it was a free exchange of ideas. So, I don’t — I think we’ve gotten kind of intolerant.”
When asked if he agreed with fellow candidate New Jersey Governor Chris Christie that the protests were at least partially to blame on President Obama, Rand responded, “I don’t know if it’s one person’s fault or not. But we’ve become overly sensitive where people can’t tell a joke. People can’t have an opinion. Only certain opinions are acceptable on college campus. So, I think we need more robust debate, and there really shouldn’t be this monolith thing. I mean, if you challenge climate change, it’s almost like they’ll put you in prison for challenging the religious dogma of climate change on campus, and that’s crazy.”
(h/t The Right Scoop)
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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