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Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. (Getty)
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., announced Wednesday he intends to become the top Republican on the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions committee next year, promising to continue his oversight of federal health officials while opposing what he said would be a Democrat push toward government-controlled healthcare.
Paul, an ophthalmologist who already serves on the HELP Committee, is second in Republican seniority behind current Chair Bill Cassidy, R-La., who lost his primary earlier this year and will leave the Senate in January.
With Democrats taking control of the Senate, Paul will lose the chair of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. He intends to seek the top Republican position on HELP rather than become ranking member of Homeland Security.
Although Paul is in line for the position based on seniority, his selection must be approved by the committee’s Republican members and the full Senate Republican Conference.
If selected, Paul would serve alongside Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., the committee’s current ranking member, who is expected to become chair when Democrats take control. Sanders is a longtime advocate of Medicare for All and other federal healthcare programs.
“Too many in Washington answer these questions with more government, and the coming Congress will bring a rush toward socialism unlike anything we have seen,” Paul said in a statement posted on Facebook.
“Families, not federal bureaucrats, should make the decisions that shape their lives. I will stand against efforts to put Washington between Americans and their doctors, their children’s schools, and their paychecks.”
Paul emphasized his medical background and legislative experience in explaining his decision to move to the health committee.
“As a physician and the author of dozens of bills on healthcare, education, and labor, I know the issues before this committee affect nearly every American family, from the cost of healthcare and how schools serve our children to how people earn a living and save for retirement,” he said.
Paul has repeatedly questioned former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci about the federal government’s COVID-19 response and the origins of the virus.
He has accused Fauci of misleading Congress about U.S.-funded coronavirus research in China and withholding information about the pandemic’s origins. Fauci has denied the allegations.
As chair of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Paul continued investigating Fauci, who invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination during a July hearing.
“Over the past two years, as chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, I delivered the unprecedented oversight I promised,” Paul said.
“I challenged entrenched bureaucracies, forced federal officials to answer for their actions, and pulled back the curtain on what Washington tried to keep hidden.”
He cited “bringing Anthony Fauci before my committee under oath, bringing forward an Intelligence Community whistleblower who exposed what the government knew, and making thousands of pages of previously unreleased COVID-related documents public so Americans could read them for themselves.”
Paul indicated that his oversight approach would continue on the HELP Committee.
“Kentuckians sent me to Washington to defend their freedom and hold government accountable,” he said. “That is what I have done as HSGAC chairman, and it is what I intend to keep doing on the HELP committee.”
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