Sen. Rand Paul knocked new House Speaker Paul Ryan for his vote in favor of last week’s budget deal, saying Tuesday that it got the relationship between the Senate and the House started “on a bad foot.”
“I think overall, Republicans want us to hold the line on spending and increasing the debt. That’s why I start out disappointed because increasing the spending and increasing spending caps is the wrong way to go,” Paul told CNN Tuesday afternoon. “I haven’t met a Republican outside the beltway who is for raising the debt ceiling and raising the spending caps. So I think we’ve started out on a bad foot.”
Ryan met with Senate Republicans for the first time as speaker Tuesday and hashed out ways the two sides could push more conservative priorities to President Barack Obama’s desk.
Paul’s comment stood out because many congressional Republicans, even members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, who have slammed the budget deal have chosen not to rip the new speaker over his vote for it.
Paul filibustered the deal unsuccessfully last week and was one of 35 Senate Republicans to oppose the measure.
Even other Senate Republican firebrands have tempered their words regarding Ryan, who was a consensus pick throughout the Republican ranks in the House.
“I’m hopeful that Paul Ryan will prove to be a strong conservative leader who fights hard to honor the commitments we made,” Sen. Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, told CNN Tuesday afternoon.