Dear Friend,
You can find my latest update below!
Dr. Rand Paul Grills Dr. Fauci on COVID Booster Shots for Children, and Royalty Payments Received by Government Bureaucrats
On Thursday, as a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee I was able to question Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) on COVID booster shots for children, and whether government bureaucrats – like him – receive royalty payments from Big Pharma companies and manufacturers.
Once again, Dr. Fauci was caught obfuscating the truth and refused to answer my questions.
First, I asked if there are any studies that show a reduction in hospitalization or death for children that take a COVID-19 booster vaccine. His answer was no. So then, why would the government recommend it?
Dr. Fauci and the Biden Administration are so committed to making sure every man, woman, and child in America submits to their rules that they are completely ignoring actual science.
The COVID death rate for kids is about one in a million. In fact, you’re more likely to have your child struck by lightning than die from COVID. And, before recommending a vaccine for children, wouldn’t we also want to know if the large percentage of kids who have already recovered from COVID are at risk for any hospitalization or death?
It’s unscientific and really malpractice to push vaccines on children without revealing whether or not previous infection is already protecting them.
People in government think they know what’s best for us, but in a free country, people make their own health care decisions, and ultimately can decide based on risk factors if the COVID vaccine is best for them.
I was also able to ask Dr. Fauci if he or anyone involved in approving or promoting vaccines, drugs, or treatments, received royalty payments from the companies that manufacture or sell these products. His answer was that people who receive royalties are not required to disclose them.
Nevertheless, I believe that the American taxpayer deserves to know the degree to which government doctors and researchers have a financial interest in drugs and products they support, and whether any relationship exists between federal grants awarded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and royalty payments received by NIH personnel .
Americans deserve greater transparency, and as your Senator, I promise to continue fighting for answers and to expose D.C. for the swamp that it is.
You can watch my full questioning and remarks HERE.
Senate Votes on Dr. Rand Paul’s Six Penny Plan Balanced Federal Budget
On Wednesday, the Senate voted on my “Six Penny Plan” budget that would balance our nation’s federal budget within five years.
As I said on the Senate floor before the vote, five years ago, we could balance our budget with a freeze in spending without cutting anything, and had that budget been adopted, the budget would have balanced this year.
Since my first spending freeze budget, Congress has added nearly $11 trillion to the federal debt and inflation has reached a 40-year high.
We are now in a situation that a simple penny, two, three, or even a five pennies per-dollar reduction is insufficient to balance our budget. It requires six.
Instead of celebrating a balanced budget this year, and again allowing spending to grow at historic norms, we are faced with a weakened and teetering economy, a prescription for our ills that is six times more dramatic than it ever had to be.
Congress’s refusal to accept the responsibility to act as good stewards of American taxpayer dollars has caused our bleak financial position. Americans everywhere are feeling the effects of historical high prices and sustaining labor and supply chain issues.
We cannot keep ignoring this problem at the expense of taxpayers, and my budget would have put our nation on track to solve this crisis that Congress created. Unfortunately, only 28 other senators seem to care about your economic future and voted with me in favor of my plan.
You can read more on the Six Penny Plan HERE and watch my floor remarks HERE .
Dr. Rand Paul Kicks off 2022 Intern Lecture Series
On Wednesday, my office joined The Fund for American Studies (TFAS) to host over 500 interns from a variety of offices across Capitol Hill for the first meeting of our annual intern lecture series.
These free educational opportunities allow Washington, D.C., interns to learn from prominent speakers on topics surrounding freedom, civil liberties, and free enterprise. Our lecture series is open to all D.C. interns and is a great platform to network with other students interested in economic freedom and limited government.
I was able to lead off the series this month touching on several topics ranging from vaccine mandates, rising prices, and the many problems with socialism.
With many more events like these planned to come, I am excited to continue my work with TFAS bringing great speakers from around the country to touch on the issues facing our nation and highlight the importance of freedom and civil liberties.
You can watch my full speech HERE .
Dr. Rand Paul Writes Column on Big Tech and Free Market Principles
Recently, I wrote a column published in Fox News on the current anger towards Big Tech and my efforts to preserve free market principles.
As I wrote in the column, no one is angrier at YouTube than I am. When I used that platform to educate the public on the potentially deadly consequences of relying on ineffective cloth masks to prevent transmission of COVID-19, YouTube took my video down and suspended my ability to upload additional videos for a week. Such was my punishment for the crime of daring to disagree with Chief Medical Advisor to the President Anthony Fauci, for which there was no appeal, even though the Centers for Disease Control now admits I was correct.
I was appalled that YouTube rejected the principle of free speech and embraced the Orwellian tactic of disappearing messages that did not adhere to the official party line. In response, I simply used my power as a consumer to post my videos to YouTube’s free-speech supporting competitor, Rumble.com .
While many of my colleagues share my anger with big tech companies, they do not share my free-market principles. Instead, the bipartisan zeal for vengeance inspired an antitrust crusade against Amazon, Facebook, Google, and Twitter. But these proposals to ostensibly cut the tech giants down to size would, instead, perpetuate the dominant position of these companies and deprive consumers of the technological innovation that only free-market competition can provide.
In other words, if my colleagues’ antitrust campaign had already been successful, they might have crushed any alternative to YouTube and my videos would have gone unseen.
Competition is a win-win proposition, and years of innovation would likely have been prevented by today’s antitrust proposals.
I may be angry with YouTube for its policies that silence debate, but I would not allow my anger to support the use of antitrust to destroy the system that made YouTube possible. Doing so now would only freeze YouTube’s dominant position by preventing competitors from emerging. Rather than pursue even stronger antitrust laws, Congress should allow the free market to thrive where consumers, not the government, decide how big a company should be.
You can read the full column HERE .
Kentucky Tornado Disaster Assistance
I am committed to doing all that I can to assist local and state officials as they continue to manage the recovery effort, and my office is standing by to help those who are in need of help with denied FEMA claims, Small Business Administration loans, and replacing lost or damaged documents such as Social Security cards, VA records, military medals and records, and tax paperwork.
If you are in need of assistance, you can reach my Bowling Green office at (270) 782-8303, and one of my staff members will be happy to help. For more details on Kentucky tornado disaster relief information please visit HERE .
Have an Issue or Concern?
We owe it to the men and women who have served in combat to provide them with quality care for injuries sustained in defense of this nation and provide the necessary support tools as they adjust back to civilian life. My office and I are committed to serving those who served this country so bravely and ensuring our veterans are taken care of. If you or a loved one who has served in the military are in need, please let us know how we can help.
If you would like my office to assist with casework on your behalf, please fill out a Privacy Release Form HERE or visit www.paul.senate.gov/privacy-release-form to print a copy and mail it to my Bowling Green office.
If you are a Kentucky resident and need assistance with a federal agency or with navigating the federal response and ongoing community needs related to COVID-19, please feel free to contact my Bowling Green office at (270) 782-8303. One of my staff members will be more than happy to assist you.
Stay in Touch with Dr. Paul
You can stay up to date on my latest news and activities by visiting my Senate Website, www.paul.senate.gov , or my official Facebook and Twitter pages.
You can watch my Senate floor speeches and press interviews on Rumble HERE . You can also sign up to be notified about my telephone town hall events HERE .
Warm Regards,