Rand Paul Speaks at Rotary Club Luncheon

The Rotary Club of Paducah invited U.S. Senator Rand Paul to speak at its regular weekly luncheon on Wednesday.

The event began just after noon in the Carson Center's Myre Room.

In front of a packed crowd Paul spoke about government waste, taxes and the budget. During his speech, Sen. Paul said more oversight is needed over military spending.

"The Pentagon says they're too big to be audited," Paul said. "That's an insult to the taxpayer, that they are just going to spend whatever they want and we are never going to know where the money was spent."

Paul also talked about the growing national debt, and how economists say it is costing the U.S. economy jobs.

"We're borrowing 30 thousand dollars every second," Paul said. "Over a trillion dollars a year, 17 trillion dollars total. Economists say that it's costing us a million jobs a year."

Paul spoke at length about how he feels out of control spending is hurting the country.

Military aid to Egypt was another subject Paul addressed, saying that the U.S. is legally required to cut off aid to any foreign government that has taken power by military force.

"In Egypt there was a military coup," Paul said. "We have a law that has been on the books, and has been voted on every year since 1985 that says if a democratically elected government is overthrown by a military coup, then military aid ends."

Paul said that in an effort to continue military aid to the most populous nation in the Middle-East, many government officials have simply chosen to refrain from calling the Egyptian situation a coup. 

While Paul was in town, he also provided several patients who lack health insurance free cataract surgery at Paducah Ambulatory Surgery Center. After one of those surgeries, Paul commented on the U.S. Senate race, in which he endorsed Sen. Mitch McConnell. He was asked if there is a disconnect between Bevin, who calls himself a Tea Party candidate, and others in the state and national Tea Party movement.

Paul said, "The Tea Party is a very independent-minded group, there is no real absolute structure, and I'm the first to admit noone's in charge of it. So I'm not in charge of it, people show up, it's open mic night. Everybody's in charge of their own vote. I am supporting Sen. McConnell because he's been conservative. He's led the fight against Obamacare, he's led the fight for the balanced budget amendment, he's led the fight against McCain-Feingold and for freedom of political speech. So there are a lot of issues he and I have worked together on, including issues to try to defend Kentucky against the President's war on coal. So I think there's a lot of reasons conservatives should really look at his whole record, and really should support him."