Rand Paul: GOP Senate will pass Keystone, address 400 stalled bills
By Paul Bedard | October 20, 2014 | 11:28 am
Photo - Sen. Rand Paul predicts a wave of passed bills if the Republicans take charge of the Senate. AP Photo
Sen. Rand Paul predicts a wave of passed bills if the Republicans take charge of the Senate. AP...
Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, who has spent months on the road promoting Republican candidates in 32 states, said the GOP is poised to take control of the Senate in the November election and immediately approve construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, address corporate taxes and reform prison laws.
“I’d be surprised if we don’t win the majority,” he told Secrets. “I think the wind is at our back, the president is increasingly unpopular,” said Paul, adding that there are some Democrats who "would probably run the other way if [President Obama] came to their state.”
Paul, who is mulling a 2016 presidential bid, is so confident of picking up the needed six Senate seats that he has already met with fellow Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell, the chamber’s minority leader, to discuss what the new majority would do starting in January.
“We pass legislation,” he said. “I’ve talked with Sen. McConnell about this, he’s intent on passing legislation.”
What’s more, he said that instead of paying back Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for blocking GOP legislation for six years, Republicans would seek Democratic assistance — including Obama’s.
“If you allow the minority to be part of the process, to have amendments, and to frankly shape the legislation, we’ll pass legislation,” he said. Paul said the GOP would move fast to take up some of the 400 House-approved bills corralled by Reid, including Keystone XL, criminal justice reform and a plan to “repatriate” overseas profits at a discounted tax rate.
“There are probably two dozen bills that have bipartisan support,” he said.
Easy enough, but he knows that Obama’s veto pen stands in the way of enacting legislation. So he offered a proposition to the president, one the GOP had for Bill Clinton in 1990s when he was handed a Republican Congress as he sought to polish his legacy.
“He has to decide if he wants to go down in history as the most unpopular president in history, or whether he wants to work with Congress,” Paul said.
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/rand-paul-gop-senate-will-pass-keystone-address-400-stalled-bills/article/2555012
