Sen. Rand Paul: ‘There’s no reason for us to default’

Sen. Rand Paul on Sunday said it’s irresponsible for President Obama to talk about the prospect of defaulting if the debt ceiling isn’t raised.

“I think it’s irresponsible of the president and his men to even talk about default,” Mr. Paul, Kentucky Republican, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “There’s no reason for us to default. We bring in $250 billion in taxes every month. Our interest payment is $20 billion. Tell me why we would ever default. We have legislation called the Full Faith and Credit Act, and it tells the president you must pay the interest on the debt. So this is a game.”

Mr. Paul also said that Republicans have been trying a piecemeal approach at passing individual spending bills to get the government to reopen, but Senate Majority Leader  Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat, “dismisses them out of hand.”

“We’ve been passing NIH funding, veterans funding. Here’s the thing that people don’t realize,” he said. “That’s historically the way it’s always been. You pass small appropriation bills so you can look at them individually. It’s a much better way to run government because right now you’re sticking everything into one bill, and that’s why the leverage of shutting the government down occurs.

“It’s extremely bad for the president to shut down the government … I think it’s bad for both parties, but the only way to get to a resolution is to negotiate. We’re willing to negotiate. We’re every day passing bills to reopen government, and every day Harry Reid is vetoing every bill we send over. … We’re the ones trying to open government; the Democrats are saying keep it closed. They like it being closed — they think they can beat up on us politically.”