Rand Paul: Stop Borrowing Money from China to Study 'Cocaine and Risky Sex Habits of Quail'
Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky sounded the alarm on the skyrocketing national debt and urged Congress to stop wasting taxpayer money on frivolous boondoggles that do nothing to help Americans.
On Friday, the fiscal conservative slammed both parties on the Senate floor for squandering tax dollars to fund pseudoscientific “research” projects such as “Cocaine and Risky Sex Habits of Quail” and walking lizards on treadmills.
These are actual studies that the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation and other federal agencies wasted money on last year.
NIH Spent over $800,000 to study whether Japanese Quails are more Sexually promiscuous on cocaine. I think we could have simply polled the audience….and of course found they are… pic.twitter.com/lZYlRbyuun
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) May 25, 2021
Ever wonder why a lizard waddles when he walks? Well for one and a half million taxpayer dollars, NSF had lizards walk on a treadmill while taking x-rays of their joints – What did they discover? That they need more taxpayer money before they could conclude any answer. pic.twitter.com/vi1yPYVM1N
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) May 25, 2021
Paul, a physician, made the remarks to express his opposition to the $110 billion Endless Frontier Act, which its sponsor — Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York — claims would fund research to help the U.S. stay technologically ahead of its foreign rivals such as communist China.
The senator noted that the national debt tops $28 trillion, and that the bill would force the U.S. to borrow more money from China to pay for useless “research,” as America’s supposed aim is to help it maintain a competitive edge over the communist regime.
Getting further in debt to a foreign rival does not help the nation; it weakens it.
“I don’t think this bill makes us stronger. In fact, I think the Chinese sit back … and laugh at America thinking we’re going to be stronger by borrowing more money from China,” Paul said, according to Fox News.
“So I just don’t think it makes us any stronger at all. I think it makes us weaker. It would be one thing if it weren’t being so horribly wasted.”
To illustrate that billions of dollars are being misused, Paul showed poster boards spotlighting the kind of pointless projects the Endless Frontier Act would pay for.
The senator specifically blasted the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation, which both get significant funding for frivolous programs every year.
“Nearly half a million dollars to create a climate-change video game,” he tweeted. “This game’s intention? To spread alarmism and irrational fear among school children in a fun and interesting way.”
Nearly half a million dollars to create a climate change video game.
This game’s intention? To spread alarmism and irrational fear among school children in a fun and interesting way. pic.twitter.com/e7QqSvOEkc— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) May 25, 2021
In another example of wasteful spending, Paul noted that the NSF “siphoned off $700,000” intended for autism research to study whether astronaut Neil Armstrong used the word “a” when he landed on the moon.
Specifically, the NSF wanted to know if Armstrong had said, “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” or “One small step for ‘a’ man” during his 1969 moon landing.
In a farcical anti-climax, the study concluded: We just don’t know.
Did Neil Armstrong say: “One small step for Man, one giant leap for mankind” or “One small step for ‘A’ man”
Well researchers siphoned off $700,000 from an NSF autism research grant to ask that question. The answer: we just don’t know. pic.twitter.com/1o4v1JiLQP
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) May 25, 2021
Paul said most Americans would be disgusted if they knew their government was wasting billions of their tax dollars every year on these nonsensical programs.
However, he said, the wasteful spending continues — and snowballs every year — because most people don’t read the bills to discover for themselves that the government is throwing away their money.
Last week, he blasted White House medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci, saying his division of the NIH — the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases — gave hefty grants to the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which then used the money to perform “gain-of-function” research into bat coronaviruses.
Gain-of-function research involves transforming pathogens into mutant “superviruses” by making them deadlier and more contagious.
There’s mounting evidence suggesting the Wuhan lab is likely the source of COVID-19.
Paul claims to have proof that Fauci was involved in some incredibly suspicious funding. https://t.co/gzsgKGW1zO
— The Western Journal (@WestJournalism) May 17, 2021
While Fauci has denied these allegations, Paul has asserted the medical adviser is lying because there’s a paper trail showing that the NIAID did indeed bankroll this dangerous research.
Fauci has been the director of the NIAID since 1984.
“Dr. Shi [Zhengli], the ‘bat scientist’ — that’s the most famous one from the Wuhan Institute — when she published her papers, which scientists across the board are saying are gain of function, they were juicing up viruses — she gave credit to Dr. Fauci,” Paul said earlier this month.
“We have this in black and white from a peer-reviewed journal: She said the funding came from Dr. Fauci’s National Institute, NIAID. This is Dr. Fauci’s baby for 40 years. She lists him in the credits.”
The senator underscored, “He can’t escape this. He did the funding.”
Paul said it’s time to end the gravy train for these kinds of counterproductive projects that would be funded by the $110 billion, Schumer-sponsored Endless Frontier Act.
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