Authored by S.M.Gibson via TheAntiMedia.org,

U.S. Senator Rand Paul is fed up with Congress’ drunken sailor spending style and looked to challenge the bloated spending package as it reached the floor of the Senate overnight. Despite being given approximately 24-hours to read the 2,000-plus pages of financial waste before a possible vote, the senator from Kentucky decided he would not only read the entirety of the bill (likely the only member of the Senate to do so), which he has repeatedly called “terrible” and “rotten,” but also live-tweeted out the highlights of where taxpayer dollars are actually going.

As of this writing, Paul is roughly 500 pages into reading the legislation and has already uncovered a mountain of waste. You can read the senator’s tweets below. This story will be updated as more tweets become available.

Shame, shame. A pox on both Houses – and parties. $1.3 trillion. Busts budget caps. 2200 pages, with just hours to try to read it. — Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 22, 2018

Well here it is, all 2,232 budget-busting pages. The House already started votes on it. The Senate is expected to soon. No one has read it. Congress is broken… pic.twitter.com/izvJlUEgUM — Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 22, 2018

It’s a good thing we have Republican control of Congress or the Democrats might bust the budget caps, fund planned parenthood and Obamacare, and sneak gun control without due process into an Omni…wait, what? — Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 21, 2018

I ran for office because I thought the Obama spending and trillion dollar annual deficits were a real problem for our country and now Republicans are doing the same thing. https://t.co/Fdi9riA3YK — Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 22, 2018

FYI- The 2200+ page, budget-busting Omnibus has been printing for two hours in my office and still isn’t done. — Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 22, 2018

1. On page 207. 2000+ pages to go! Reading about the ever wasteful $6 billion National Science Foundation. — Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 22, 2018

2. Remember the $350,000 NSF spent asking if japanese quail are more sexually promiscuous on cocaine? — Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 22, 2018

3. Reading this monstrous bill full of grant programs begun decades ago reminds me of Reagan’s critique: the nearest thing to immortality is a government program. — Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 22, 2018

Page 226 of terrible, no good, rotten deficit spending bill. I found a kernel of hope: “no funds in this act will be used to support or justify torture.” — Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 22, 2018

Page 240 good news for states rights: no funds will be spent to prevent any state’s medical marijuana initiatives. Thank you Congr. Rohrbacher — Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 22, 2018

Page 278. (1954 to go!) $961 million to destroy our chemical weapons. Who was it, exactly, who convinced our government to pay billions to develop weapons we now find deplorable? — Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 22, 2018

Page 281 of “crumni-bus”. CIA retirement funding. Wouldn’t it be great to amend out the retirement benefits of Trump hater John Brennan and Congressional dissembler James Clapper? pic.twitter.com/rRG6qGKcx6 — Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 22, 2018

Here are a few more highlights: o $1m for the Cultural Antiquities Task Force

o $6.25m for the Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation

o $20m for Countering Foreign State Propaganda

o $12m for Countering State Disinformation and Pressure — Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 22, 2018

o $5m for Vietnam Education Foundation Grants

o $2.579m for Commission on Security and Co-operation in Europe

o $15m to USAID for promoting international higher education between universities

o $2.696bn for International Disaster Assistance — Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 22, 2018

o $1.371bn for Contributions to International Organizations

o $51m to promote International Family Planning and Reproductive Health

o $7m promoting International Conservation

o $10m for UN Environmental Programs — Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 22, 2018

o $1m for the World Meteorological Organization

o $218m for Promoting Democracy Development in Europe (yep..the birthplace of democracy needs promoting)

o $25m for International Religious Freedom

o $10m for disadvantaged Egyptian Students — Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 22, 2018

o $12m for Scholarships for Lebanon

o $20m for Middle East Partnership Initiative Scholarship Program

o $12m in military funding for Vietnam

o $3.5m in nutrition assistance to Laos

o $15m in Developmental assistance to China

o $10m for Women LEOs in Afghanistan — Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 22, 2018

on page 355. NSA prohibited from targeting US persons with FISA 702 program. sounds good —but — privacy advocates fear that NSA still does back-door targeting of US persons. Courageous Senator Wyden has asked how many US persons caught up in supposedly foreign data base. — Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 22, 2018

But Brennan and Clapper too busy spewing hatred of Trump to respond to legitimate requests. — Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 22, 2018

Page 357. Sec. 8116 no funds can be used in Iraq in contravention of the War Powers Act sounds good but . . . haven’t we been back in Iraq at war against new foes without any new congressional authorization? — Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 22, 2018

Page 348 of terrible, rotten, no-good budget busting bill, a nugget that I wish we obeyed sec. 8103: none of the funds may be used in contravention of the War Powers Act — Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 22, 2018

hmm . . . that would mean we shouldn’t be spending $ in undeclared wars in Yemen, Libya, Niger, Somalia, Afghanistan wonder why the party that talks about the rule of law, doesn’t obey the rule of law? — Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 22, 2018

and I’m STILL reading. This bill is no @bradthor thriller. Page 365: Overseas contingency operations. aka military slush fund that circumvents budget caps. All told, we’ve spent over a trillion dollars in this budget busting category. — Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 22, 2018

Page 376 of terrible, rotten, no-good budget busting bill: I found it! I found it! Border security, what President Trump wanted! no . . .wait a minute section says Defense can spend what funds it determines to enhance the border security of Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, and Tunisia — Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 22, 2018

eyes getting tired but really someone should read this beast. Page 392 sec 9007: no $ shall be spent “for the permanent stationing of US forces in Afghanistan” Wonder what they meant by permanent? Some might argue that after 16 years we approaching the definition of permanent. — Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 22, 2018

Page 430 of “crumni-bus:” Good news. The government is going to “earn” $350 million by selling oil from Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Bad news is the $ won’t go to reduce the $21 trillion debt. The $ will be instead be spent elsewhere by the Federal government. — Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 22, 2018

Page 447: a little over $30 billion for Dept of Energy Wonder if anyone would notice if we had no Dept of Energy Put oversight of nuclear waste in DOD and let supply & demand be our Energy policy — Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 22, 2018

Page 485: No $ used by the IRS to target citizens for exercising 1st amendment rights. Do you think Lois Lerner knew about this part of the law before she targeted Tea Party groups? pic.twitter.com/t41kZ63oD8 — Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 22, 2018

⚡ “Tweeting the 2018 Omnibus”https://t.co/qgTCivVbrX — Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 22, 2018

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