Rand Paul roils the Senate with NATO blockadeSen. Rand Paul is drawing the ire of his colleagues by being the lone holdout on a treaty allowing Montenegro to have membership in NATO.
The Kentucky Republican says it is in the United States’ best interest to keep the small Eastern European country out of the alliance, but some of his colleagues think he is playing a leverage game with Senate leadership.
Tensions surrounding the issue boiled over on the Senate floor last week when Paul blocked Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) from bringing up a vote on the treaty.
“The senator from Kentucky is now working for Vladimir Putin,” McCain said angrily. “You are achieving the objectives of trying to dismember this small country, which has already been the subject of an attempted coup.”
Paul responded a day later, calling the 80-year-old McCain “unhinged.”
“I think he makes a really, really strong case for term limits,” Paul said Thursday on MSNBC. “I think maybe he's past his prime.”
Paul’s office also released a statement that said it is “unwise” to allow Montenegro into NATO because it would add to America’s military burden.
“Currently, the United States has troops in dozens of countries and is actively fighting in Iraq, Syria, Libya, and Yemen (with the occasional drone strike in Pakistan),” his office wrote following McCain’s accusation. “In addition, the United States is pledged to defend 28 countries in NATO. It is unwise to expand the monetary and military obligations of the United States given the burden of our $20 trillion debt.”...
http://thehill.com/news-by-subject/defense-homeland-security/325091-rand-paul-roils-the-senate-with-nato-blockade
