Tagged: Rand Paul

U.S. Sen. Rand Paul on Monday called for a gradual reduction of American foreign aid, delivering the message in an unlikely venue — since Israel is among the top recipients of American assistance.

Paul, a Republican from Kentucky, told reporters that the U.S. can't afford to keep borrowing money and then handing it out to others, even to allies like Israel.

"It will harder to be a friend of Israel if we are out of money. It will be harder to defend Israel if we destroy our country in the process," he told the Jerusalem Institute for Market Studies, an Israeli think tank. "I think there will be significant repercussions to running massive deficits ... you destroy your currency by spending money you don't have."

Police say 19-year-old William Hilton Paul was arrested after a flight from Kentucky to North Carolina. The Charlotte Observer reports he was arrested Saturday morning at Charlotte Douglas International Airport and charged with alcohol related offenses.

The newspaper quotes Charlotte-Mecklenburg police Lieutenant Blake Hollar as saying it's possible Paul was served alcohol on the flight from Lexington, KY to Charlotte. When the plane landed shortly after 11:00 a.m., the son of the Republican Kentucky Senator and grandson of former presidential candidate Ron Paul was charged with consuming beer/wine underage, disorderly conduct and being intoxicated and disruptive.

In a brief written statement, Senator Paul's office said "as many parents with teenagers would understand," the family is requesting their privacy be respected "in a situation such as this."

U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, the tea party Republican who has acknowledged he's interested in a presidential bid in 2016, insisted Friday that he would seek re-election to the Senate that year.

The quandary for Paul is that he has to choose one or the other because, under Kentucky law, he's legally precluded from running for both.

Paul told reporters after a speech to Lexington business leaders on Friday that he has formed a re-election committee and that he intends to be on the ballot for Senate, though he still didn't rule out running for president.