The Washington Post reported that Kentucky GOP Sen. Paul lashed out at critics who called him a hypocrite for requesting federal funds when his state was ravaged by tornadoes.
Paul wrote a letter to President Joe Biden on Saturday after a storm created historic tornadoes.
More than 70 people were killed in Kentucky.
Critics said that the letter was different from Paul's previous opposition to federal disaster relief efforts.
We should help our Kentucky neighbors. They are hurting and God be with them. "Do not forget that RandPaul has voted against helping most Americans when they need it the most," Swalwell wrote.
Eric Swalwell is a congressman.
Paul opposed a disaster relief measure for the Northeast after Superstorm Sandy, but he would like to offset the cost with cuts elsewhere in the federal budget.
"I would have given them $9 billion and I would've taken the $9 billion from somewhere else," Paul said at the time.
Paul opposed a disaster relief bill.
"People here will say they have great compassion and they want to help the people of Puerto Rico, the people of Texas, and the people of Florida, but notice they have great compassion with someone else's money," Paul said in a speech on the Senate floor.
"I'm glad Paul realized that states needing federal assistance after a disaster isn't 'grubby, wasteful or being 'compassionate with someone else's money'," said Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar on Saturday.
Regardless of state politics, we should always be able to count on one another. "This is America," she said.
Paul told the Post that he has never been opposed to the program and that he's asked for emergency aid for Kentucky many times. He was against using borrowed money to fund disaster relief and not offsetting the cost elsewhere in the federal budget.
Paul told the Post that it was different from saying, "Oh, he now wants it because it's in his state and he never wanted it before." I have never objected to disaster relief in any other state. I asked that it be paid for.
The Gulf Coast Hurricane Aid Act would have given $1 billion in federal aid for people impacted by hurricanes Laura and Delta. The bill had a financial offset of using some of the $80 billion in proceeds from a 2020 radio spectrum auction.
Lawmakers across the aisle have called for funds to help tornado victims.
"I have always voted for disaster aid, and we shouldn't hold it against disaster victims when their politicians aren't doing their job," said Democratic Sen. Richard Durbin, whose state of Illinois was also impacted by the tornado.
At the time of publication, Paul's office did not respond to Insider's request for comment.
