Rand Paul in Fox News Sunday interviews during 2015


On Homeland Security: More targeted surveillance; no bulk data collection

Q: You say you want to collect records about the terrorists and not about innocent Americans, but law enforcement experts say that that is naive--that you can't connect the dots unless you have the dots.

A: I don't think there's any instance in which we found that the indiscriminate bulk collection of records have helped us. Three independent commissions looked at this, every one said that no terrorist has been caught through bulk collection. So I do want more individualized investigations. The Fourth Amendment says you can collect records, you just have to name the target, have some suspicion that you present to a judge. But I don't want the blanket surveillance of all Americans. I'm not willing to give up on the Bill of Rights in order to say, "I can feel more safe". We've been doing this for ten years. Not one terrorist has been caught through this program. When you look and you say, "is it illegal?" The courts have said it's illegal. Many scholars are saying it's unconstitutional.

Source: Fox News Sunday 2015 coverage of 2016 presidential hopefuls Aug 9, 2015

On Tax Reform: Flat tax 14.5% on personal income; & 14.5% value added tax

Q: You favor a flat tax of 14.5% on personal income and a 14.5% European style VAT. That is estimated to result in a $3 trillion loss in revenue over a decade. 80% of the money that this government spends is on entitlements and servicing the debt. What do you do?

PAUL: We have to look at everything across the board and all of government needs to be smaller. I have put forward three five-year plans that balance the budget over five years, including significant tax cuts. If you want a Republican that's going to keep government the same size by having revenue neutral tax and not really cutting tax, I'm not the guy. The Tax Foundation said that my plan would create millions of jobs and that mine is the most pro-growth tax plan ever presented. [My tax plan] helps the poor and the working class because my tax plan gets rid of the payroll tax. Social Security will be paid for by businesses and not by individuals, so a guy making $40,000 a year will get $2,000 more in their check every year.

Source: Fox News Sunday 2015 coverage of 2016 presidential hopefuls Aug 9, 2015

On Tax Reform: Flat tax doesn't exacerbate income inequality

Q: Under your tax plan, with a flat tax of 14.5 percent on personal income and a 14.5 percent European style VAT, a family making from $50,000 to $75,000 would get a 3% rise in income. Sounds good. But a family making more than $1 million a year would get a 13% rise in income. Doesn't your plan massively increase income inequality?

PAUL: Income inequality is due to some people working harder and selling more things. If people voluntarily buy more of your stuff, you'll have more money. And it is a fallacious notion to say that rich people get more money back in a tax cut. If you cut taxes by 10%, 10% of $1 million is more than 10% of $1,000 so obviously people who paid more in taxes will get more back.

Source: Fox News Sunday 2015 coverage of 2016 presidential hopefuls Aug 9, 2015

On Abortion: Force a Senate vote on defunding Planned Parenthood

Q: [After videos that claimed to show Planned Parenthood representatives selling fetal tissue]: You offered an amendment to the highway funding bill to defund Planned Parenthood, but it looks dead--your next step?

PAUL: I've submitted a discharge petition--this is highly unusual for a non-leadership position to submit a discharge petition. This means that I'm going to try to force a vote on this. I really think that the time has come in our country to debate whether people want their taxpayer dollars going to this kind of procedure.

Q: And it looks like you're not going to get a vote on the Senate floor?

PAUL: They may block me today on this bill, but I'm trying to file for a discharge position to have a separate bill. If I have 16 senators to sign a bill saying they think we should defund Planned Parenthood, and I guarantee you that people across America who are outraged by this are going to call their senators and say, "Have you signed Rand Paul's discharge petition?"

Source: Fox News Sunday 2015 coverage of 2016 presidential hopefuls Jul 26, 2015

On Homeland Security: Increase targeted surveillance to defend against terrorism

Q: You would limit foreign intervention and domestic surveillance--but now with ISIS on the march, there's a concern that you aren't tough enough on those issues.

PAUL: There was a poll not too long ago in Iowa that asked, do you think we should be more involved in foreign wars, like John McCain, who wants to be everywhere all the time, or do you think we should be less involved or more judicious and only go to war when we have a threat to an American interest, like Rand Paul? And it polls equally in Iowa. So I think the party is split on some of these things. I do want to defend America. In fact, I think we are distracting ourselves from the real terrorist threat by collecting so much information that we get inundated by the information and we get distracted. I want to collect more information on terrorists, but I want to do it according to the 4th Amendment--which puts forward that suspicion should be individualized and there should be a warrant with a judge's name on it.

Source: Fox News Sunday 2015 coverage of 2016 presidential hopefuls Jul 26, 2015

On Immigration: Secure border with Mexico; do away with sanctuary cities

When I think of immigration, I think that you do have to have a secure border, but I don't automatically think that immigrants are bad people. I think the opposite. I think of my great-grandfather, who came here from Germany, and I think that most immigrants come here seeking the American dream. And I'm not going to vilify all immigrants with a broad brush. I think there are some bad people--and I put in legislation on the sanctuary cities to try to make sure that never happens again, but I think by and large, the people who come to our country want the American dream.
Source: Fox News Sunday 2015 coverage of 2016 presidential hopefuls Jul 26, 2015

The above quotations are from Fox News Sunday interviews during 2015
(Chris Wallace interviewing candidates for 2015 and 2016 races).
Click here for other excerpts from Fox News Sunday interviews during 2015
(Chris Wallace interviewing candidates for 2015 and 2016 races)
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Click here for other excerpts by Rand Paul.
Click here for a profile of Rand Paul.
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Page last updated: Nov 30, 2021