President Donald Trump said on Thursday that Rand Paul is invited to the annual congressional picnic at the White House after the GOP senator claimed he had been "uninvited."
"Of course Senator Rand Paul and his beautiful wife and family are invited to the BIG White House Party tonight," Trump said in a publication on his social media platform, Truth Social.
"He's the toughest vote in the history of the U.S. Senate, but why wouldn't he be? Besides, it gives me more time to get his Vote on the Great, Big, Beautiful Bill, one of the greatest and most important pieces of legislation ever put before our Senators & Congressmen/women," the president added.
Paul said on Wednesday he had been "uninvited" to the event, describing the decision as retaliation for his opposition to Trump's "big, beautiful" tax cut and spending bill. He detailed that he called the White House to get his tickets but was told he was not invited.
"They're afraid of what I'm saying, so they think they're going to punish me, I can't go to the picnic, as if somehow that's going to make me more conciliatory," Paul said. "So it's silly, in a way, but it's also just really sad that this is what it's come to. But petty vindictiveness like this, it makes you — it makes you wonder about the quality of people you're dealing with."
Paul has been among the few Republicans who criticized some of Trump's recent initiatives, including the bill and the military parade planned for Saturday. The parade is set to honor the Army's 250th anniversary, which also falls on the day the president turns 79. Tanks, artillery launchers and about 7,000 soldiers, as well as hundreds of thousands of attendees are expected to show up in Washington, D.C.'s Constitution Avenue while the president watches from a viewing stand south of the White House.
The event has largely been met with enthusiasm by fellow Republicans, who claim to be looking forward to celebrating the co-birthdays. However, the Kentucky Senator criticized the parade's imagery, saying that showing off lethal hardware is something other countries do, but not the United States.
"I wouldn't have done it," Paul told reporters. "I'm not sure what the actual expense of it is, but... we were always different than, you know, the images you saw in the Soviet Union and North Korea. We were proud not to be that."
Regarding the spending bill, Paul said it will "explode the debt" if passed. He added that budget cuts are "wimpy and anemic." "The math doesn't add up," said Paul, who has called to remove the $4 trillion debt limit hike saying it's "not conservative."
"There's got to be someone left in Washington who thinks debt is wrong and deficits are wrong and wants to go in the other direction," Paul said. "Somebody has to stand up and yell, 'The emperor has no clothes,'" he added, criticizing those "falling in lockstep on this, pass the 'big, beautiful bill,' don't question anything."
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