(LEX 18) — The U.S. Senate is set to consider the American Rescue Plan - the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill. The plan includes stimulus checks for many Americans.
Senator Rand Paul thinks that's a bad idea.
"It's not based on giving money to people who lost their job," said Paul. "It's just passing out random checks to a lot of people."
Supporters of the bill say it will help get Americans back on track, but Senator Paul disagrees. He believes the bill is too costly and he doesn't support sending money to those who haven't lost their jobs.
"It doesn't make any sense. Why don't we extend unemployment for waiters and waitresses and hotel workers and the people who have been hurt," said Paul. "But then also, why don't we talk about the real fix to this and that's getting rid of the government mandates that closed the economy down. We need to tell Governor Beshear to get out of the way."
The Senate's consideration of the bill comes on a day where security has been increased at the US Capitol. On Wednesday, Capitol Police warned that there was a possible plot to breach the building on Thursday.
After the storming of the Capitol in January, extra security measures were immediately taken.
Senator Paul says planning ahead and staffing extra security is the right way to approach this type of threat. But he thinks the fencing around the Capitol is too much.
"I don't like having a ten-foot fence around the Capitol with razor wire. It looks like we're East Germany and I think that needs to come down," said Senator Paul. "Look, we all have threats. I have threats every week - every day. I have death threats they are investigating as we speak. So, the thing is I don't like it, but I don't want to live in a camp - a fortress - up here either."
