Sen. Rand Paul: Christie Reelected Because 'He Got A Lot Of Federal Money' Following Sandy
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) appeared to call out New Jersey Governor Chris Christie for using federal funds for Hurricane Sandy relief on Wednesday.
While Senator Paul joined Dom Giordano to discuss Affordable Care Act, the talk eventually turned to Gov. Christie's reelection in the Garden State.
"You called [Christie] a moderate several times," Giordano began, in reference to a previous question about the NJ election. "What do you base that on?"
"Well, his victory was, in large form, based on that he got a lot of federal money for his state," Sen. Paul answered. "The problem is…unlimited spending is sort of – you could call it moderate, or even Liberal, to think that there's an unlimited amount of money, even for good causes.
"If you're a conservative Republican, the federal government will be involved in certain things, but when you spend money, particularly when you're at trillion dollars in the hole, it shouldn't be just this, 'gimme, gimme, gimme all my money' without any considerations or strings," Sen. Paul continued. "It should be, 'Yes, this is why it's necessary, but this is also why I'll cut spending somewhere else.'"
"You made a finer point than this," Giordano replied, before referring to the fact that Christie's face was all over the federally-funded 'Stronger than the Storm' ads following Superstorm Sandy.
"It should be against the law for any politician to put their image on TV at taxpayer expense," Sen. Paul said emphatically. "It's one thing if you want to put your image on TV and say, 'I'm gonna give a million dollars to help Sandy funds of my money,' but you're getting somebody else's money, and if you're doing that, should you then take part of that money to promote how good you are at getting somebody else's money to come to New Jersey?"
To listen to the full interview, click here.
