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If Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) had a “spine,” he would have offered a measure that slashed spending, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said during an appearance on the Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show.

Paul, who is among those who initially came out the most forcefully against Johnson’s 1,547-page measure, walked through why this was such a horrific deal incompatible with conservatives.

“We have a government now that borrows $2 trillion a year, so a vote to continue the current spending is actually a very big spending liberal motion, one that’s not fiscally conservative,” Paul explained.

“So I don’t support continuing the current levels,” he said, although he explained that this is even worse than that alone, still.

“Speaker Johnson has said also, we’re going to add $100 million in disaster money. He then went to the big farm states with big spending Republicans, and they said, ‘We need another $30 billion in farm subsidies,’” Paul explained, laying out just how bad this original deal was.

“So you’ve got $30 billion for farmers, $100 billion for disaster, but then also the current level of spending, which is $2 trillion short,” he said. “So if the Speaker had a spine, what he would have done is come forward with a bill that cuts spending.”

Johnson, he continued, could have courted the conservatives who “actually cut spending, but instead he just added it and crammed it full of pork.”

“And as a consequence, he has a rebellion now of conservatives, both the House and the Senate saying, ‘We’re not going to vote for that. We have a government now that borrows $2 trillion dollars a year,’” he added:

LISTEN:

Paul was among the first to blast the deal Johnson negotiated for Republicans, referring to him as a “weak, weak man”:

While Johnson said they are now on to plan C to avert a government shutdown, he has lost the confidence of conservatives, some of whom are more vocal than others. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), for instance, has made it clear that he is not supporting Johnson in the Speakership vote in January.

“I’ll vote for somebody else,” Massie said, according to Politico. “I’ve got a few in mind. I’m not going to say yet.”