Rand Paul in CNN "State of the Union" interviews during 2015

On Abortion: Fund community health centers instead of Planned Parenthood

A: I think most Americans don't want their tax dollars going to this. I think most people do want to defund this. We have 9,000 community health centers that do everything Planned Parenthood does, but they don't get into abortions. So it would be much less emotional for everyone if we just funded community health centers.

Q: Do you support continued funding for community health centers?

A: I do support a role for government in community health centers. The specific bill, including it in ObamaCare, obviously would make it such that I can't support that particular bill.

Q: Ted Cruz said he's prepared to shut down the government, if that's what it takes to defund Planned Parenthood. Do you support that?

A: I support any legislation that will defund Planned Parenthood. But I don't think you can start out with your objective to shut down the government.

On Civil Rights: Marriage for heterosexuals; contracts for same-sex couples

PAUL: I do believe people ought to be left alone. I am a "leave me alone" kind of guy.

Q: But not when it comes to marriage?

PAUL: Well, no. States will end up making the decisions on these things. I think that there's a religious connotation to marriage that has been going on for thousands of years I still want to preserve that. But I also believe people ought to be treated fairly under the law. I see no reason why, if the marriage contract conveys certain things, that if [a woman] wants to marry another woman, they can do that and have a contract. You could have traditional marriage, and then you could also have the neutrality of the law that allows [same-sex couples] to have contracts with one another.

On Foreign Policy: U.S. intervention in Libya strengthened Islamic State

PAUL: Interestingly, many of the hawks in my party line right up with President Obama. The war that Hillary prominently promoted in Libya, many of the hawks in my party were right there with her. Their only difference was in degree. They wanted to go into Libya as well. Some of the hawks in my party, you can't find a place on the globe they don't want boots on the ground.

Q: And that's their point, that you're to the left of all them.

PAUL: No, my point is, is that they are actually agreeing with Hillary Clinton and agreeing with Pres. Obama that the war in Libya was a good idea. I'm not agreeing with either one of them. I'm saying that that war made us less safe, that it allowed radical Islam to rise up in Libya. There are now large segments of Libya that are pledging allegiance to ISIS, supplying arms to the Islamic rebels in the Syrian war.

On Homeland Security: 2010: decrease DOD budget by $164B; 2015: increase by $190B

PAUL: I have proposed several 5-year budgets. And for me, the most important thing of the 5-year budgets has been to balance. The last one I produced did actually increase defense spending above the military sequester. But I did it by taking money from domestic spending. My belief has always been that national defense is the most important thing we do, but we shouldn't borrow to pay for it.

Q: But by proposing an increase in military spending before you announce for president, it could look like pandering.

PAUL: Well, 3 or 4 years ago, we did the same thing. So we have been for quite some time proposing increases in military spending, but always the point is that I believe any increase in spending should be offset by decreases in spending somewhere else.

On War & Peace: Oppose bombing Assad in Syria because it strengthens ISIS

There are two million Christians in Syria. And you know what? If you asked them who would they choose, they would all choose Assad over ISIS, because they see the barbarity of perhaps both. But they see the utter depravity and barbarity of ISIS. And so bombing Assad probably isn't a good policy.