DENVER — Republican presidential candidate and Kentucky senator Rand Paul says he'll filibuster a bill to raise the debt ceiling, he told reporters on Tuesday.
"I will filibuster the new debt ceiling bill," Paul said before a campaign appearance at the University of Colorado. "I think it’s a horrible — it’s hard for me to not use profanity in describing it."
"It’s a bill that shows a careless disregard for debt," he said. "It will raise the debt with no limit."
Congressional leadership reached a budget deal with the White House this week that would raise the federal debt limit, avoiding a potential shutdown. The deal, which would raise discretionary spending limits by $80 billion, has been been opposed by some Capitol Hill conservatives, though it is expected to pass. The House may vote on the bill on Wednesday, and a vote has not yet been scheduled in the Senate.
"I will do everything I can to stop it, I will filibuster it, I will not let them condense the time," Paul said. "I will make sure that the country is aware that really both sides appear to have given up, right and left."
"The right wants more money for the military and the left wants more money for welfare," Paul said. "Guns and butter, that’s what we’re going to have, guns and butter, but as a consequence they’re destroying the country by adding more debt."
"The debt ceiling is a canard put forward by those who want to spend money," he said.
Paul has conducted high-profile filibusters in the Senate before; in 2013, he stood for 13 hours on the Senate floor opposing drone strikes against American citizens, and for 11 hours against the Patriot Act in 2015.
Asked whether he thought his planned filibuster would be similar to those, Paul said, "We don't know yet."
His presidential campaign has struggled in the past few months both with fundraising and poll numbers. He was in Denver on Tuesday ahead of Wednesday's Republican primary debate in boulder.