Rand Paul: I'll Vote for Clean CR, Debt Ceiling If Talks Progress

Sen. Rand Paul is part of the tea party delegation that has tied a bill to keep the government running to defunding Obamacare. But he says he would be willing to vote for a "clean CR" if negotiations were progressing.

"If we want to move this along and continue to negotiate, I've always been in favor of a clean CR for a week or a clean debt ceiling for a week or two," Paul, R-Ky., said Wednesday on Fox News Channel's "Your World with Neil Cavuto."

"If we're having a discussion and we're approaching a compromise, why wouldn't you?" Paul said.

But President Barack Obama doesn't want anything to do with such a plan, Paul said.



"He wants, give me the debt ceiling, give me everything I want, give me Obamacare, 100 percent of what I want, and then I'll negotiate with you," Paul said.

Obama has given indications during his presidency that he would talk to Republicans and hash things out, but the only time he ever compromised was in 2011, Paul said. That was when a debt ceiling loomed.

"We forced him to compromise, and we got the sequester, which isn't enough, but it's going in the right direction, slowing the rate of growth of government," Paul said.

Republicans achieved that because the leverage of the debt ceiling was used to get Obama to the table, Paul said.

"If the Democrats had no pressure, they would spend us into oblivion because they're not concerned about the deficit," he said.