Sen. Rand Paul: Jon Stewart is 'lying' and 'misinformed' about 9/11 bill
Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul slammed Jon Stewart for being misinformed about the "pay-go" provision in the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund bill.
“Jon Stewart is sometimes funny, sometimes informed but in this case, he's not funny nor informed,” the Republican lawmaker said on Fox News’ “Your World with Neil Cavuto” on Thursday.
Paul voted against unanimous consent authorization of healthcare funding for 9/11 first responders in order to add a vote on an amendment to offset the cost.
“I don’t vote for any spending that is not offset,” he told Cavuto. “I didn’t vote for the border spending recently, even though I support more money for the border, because the responsible thing to do is to take that money from somewhere else in the budget.”
On Wednesday, the activist and comedian blasted Sens. Paul and Mike Lee, R-Utah, for delaying a vote on the compensation fund.
"It's absolutely outrageous, and you'll pardon me if I'm not impressed in any way by Rand Paul's fiscal responsibility virtue signaling," Stewart said on “Special Report.”
The senators were concerned about the cost of the 9/11 compensation fund and questioned the bill's 70-year time frame suggesting there’s a more responsible method of allocating the funds.
"We're going to have a spending bill that says you spend whatever you want until 2092. It doesn't matter how good the cause is," Paul said. "It's irresponsible and, really, people need to wake up and not be so sort of overwhelmed by a celebrity that they take out-and-out falsehoods and ad hominem attacks from really a guttersnipe like Jon Stewart."
The Kentucky senator said he has a consistent voting record against spending bills that expand the deficit and are not budgetary neutral, a practice Paul said he demonstrated during the border funding and tax bills.
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Paul added Stewart and his liberal counterpart, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., are preaching a false narrative that there’s $2 billion in the compensation fund.
"In this case, he's neither funny nor informed," he said. "I've spent my entire Senate career putting forward 'pay-fors' for any time spending is expanded. I put forward a pay-for for the border funding bill."