Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, a Republican, revealed on Sunday the one thing that’d make him vote “yes” on the “One Big Beautiful Bill.”
Appearing on NBC News’ “Meet The Press,” he was asked by host Kristen Welker, if the vote on the OBBB was today, “are you a ‘yes’ or a ‘no?'”
“I’ve let [President Donald Trump] know that I’m not an absolute ‘no.’ I can be a ‘yes,'” Rand replied.
Paul stressed that his colleagues who want to raise the debt ceiling will have to be willing to negotiate with him (and others).
“[I]f they want my vote, they’ll have to negotiate because I don’t want to vote to raise the debt ceiling $5 trillion,” he began. “You know, Congress is awful with money, and so you should give them a more restricted credit line, not an expansive one.”
“Yes, the debt ceiling has to go up,” he then admitted, “but what I’ve said is it ought to go up three months at a time, and then we should have a renewed debate about the debt.”
He added that it doesn’t make sense to raise the debt ceiling by $5 trillion, as the OBBB would do, “and wait two years, go through another election cycle, and be almost towards the end of the Trump administration, and say, ‘Oh, whoops, we’ve added a bunch of debt. We should have done better.'”
“What’s it going to take to get you to a ‘yes'” on the OBBB, Welker pressed.
“Separate out the debt ceiling and have a separate vote on it,” the GOP senator replied. “And I won’t be the deciding vote on this. This is what I tell my supporters. If I am the deciding vote, they’ll negotiate. If I’m not, they won’t.”
“So far they’ve been sending their attack dogs after me, and that’s not a great persuasion technique. But I will negotiate if they come to me, but they have to be willing to negotiate on the debt ceiling because I’m conservative and I’m not going to, you know, no longer be conservative just because the president wants me to vote for something,” he added.
I support tax cuts — but I won’t vote to raise the debt ceiling by $5 trillion.
Republicans can’t claim to be the party of fiscal responsibility while adding the largest debt increase in U.S. history. I won’t own that disaster. pic.twitter.com/yDK0kW072b
— Senator Rand Paul (@SenRandPaul) June 3, 2025
His remarks come as the OBBB remains stalled in the Senate.
Fox News reported Monday morning that “it is doubtful that Senate Republicans will put the ‘big beautiful bill’ on the floor for debate and a vote this week.”
Instead Senate Republicans reportedly intend to wait until June 22 to begin deliberations, a move that Fox News warned “jeopardizes final passage of the measure through the Senate and House by July 4.”
The bill already passed the House late last month.
House erupts in cheers and chants of USA! USA! as the One Big Beautiful Bill passes!
– No tax on tips and overtime
– Border security funding
– Makes Trump’s 2017 tax cuts permanent
– Tax relief for seniors
– Funding for a “Golden Dome” defense system???????????????????????? pic.twitter.com/NCHniT1XW3
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) May 22, 2025
Paul has also previously advocated for spending even less money in the OBBB on border security.
“I presented my ideas that we shouldn’t immediately accept the $150 billion for border security, that we should look at how much a wall costs to build,” he told ABC News in separate remarks.
But South Carolina GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham, who chairs the Senate Budget Committee, wasn’t so sure about that.
“Maybe we can find some savings there, but Sen. Paul’s numbers are just not realistic,” he told ABC News.
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