Senator Rand Paul, R-Ky., stormed out of a Homeland Security Committee hearing on Wednesday and proposed that every Republican leave the meeting after Senator Gary Peters, D-Mich., passed every Republican amendment to the Fire Grants and Safety Act blocked.
Peters offered an amendment to the legislation, but Paul insisted that he had already filed a second-degree amendment and therefore no other could be filed. “We got what, last second-degree amendments?” said the Republican senator. Peters then suggested that Paul is not authorized to call an amendment to a vote.
“If this is how you’re going to run the committee, I’d suggest that the Republicans leave. I don’t see why we should stick around if you’re going to make up the rules. I mean, you’re going to offer a third-degree amendment,” Paul stated at the hearing.
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After Paul suggested a strike, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., chimed in and encouraged everyone to “take a few minutes, lower the temperature, just figure out the procedure,” after the heated debate.
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Chairman Senator Gary Peters, D-Mich., right, and Senator Rand Paul, R-Ky., speak before the confirmation hearing for Colleen Shogan, the nominee to become U.S. archivist, on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee in Washington on Tuesday, February 28, 2023. (Bill Clark)
“There’s no need for us to make this committee hearing a partisan, ugly place like we’ve seen in other committees. We don’t have to,” insisted Sinema.
Paul continued to discuss Peters’s attempt at a secondary amendment. “I will not stay here and recommend that any Republican stay here if we get third-degree amendments that only the majority can offer,” he said.
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Paul’s frustration arose after he introduced several amendments to the bill, which Peters contested with secondary amendments, which are essentially the amendment of an amendment. The Republican insisted the hearing was the first time “we’ve gotten second-degree amendments to each of our amendments.”
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“Most of the time we just have votes in that committee”, Paul expressed his frustration. “If we can’t figure it out behind the scenes, we have a voice and we’re not replacing someone’s voice.”
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Chairman Senator Gary Peters, D-Mich., right, takes a seat for the confirmation hearing for Colleen Shogan, the nominee to become United States archivist, at the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee in Washington on Tuesday, Feb. 22. 28, 2023. (Bill Clark/Tom Williams)
Paul introduced an amendment to make any firefighters who fired employees for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine ineligible for federal grants. Peters countered his suggestion by including language that would require audits and reports by the U.S. comptroller to be conducted on the departments denied federal funds. The amended amendment received unanimous Democratic support, with all Republicans voting against the new language.
Peters then intervened in another amendment by Paul that would prevent funding from the National Institutes of Health for “gain of function” research on coronaviruses in Wuhan, China and other laboratories. The Democrat suggested instead saying that Fire Grants and Safety Act funds should not be provided “to a Chinese fire department.”
“That makes no sense,” Paul added after the second-degree amendment. “This is legislative army to cover up the fact that you are not trying to vote directly on this.”
Senator Kyrsten Sinema recently left the Democratic Party to register as an independent. (Anna Geldmaker)
After the debate, Peters said he hopes to find “common ground” with the Kentucky senator.
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“I look forward to working with Senator Paul and hopefully we can find common ground to move forward. Some of the amendments he offered were irrelevant to the substance of the bill we were working on,” Peters said .
Aubrie Spady is a freelance production assistant for Fox News Digital.
