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Rand Paul, Opinion contributor Published 12:27 p.m. ET June 8, 2020 | Updated 2:06 p.m. ET June 8, 2020

When I ran for office, I promised to read the bills.Apparently, that is not a requirement for Courier Journal columnists.Had The Courier read the anti-lynching bill and listened to the floor debate before launching into an ad hominem attack on me, they might have discovered that not only did I not block the bill, I actuallysought the Senates immediate consideration and passage of the Emmett Till Antilynching Act with an amendment.

I offered an amendment to strengthen the bill because of my long-standing commitment to work in a bipartisan fashion to enact criminal justice reform and ensure that all people, regardless of race or class, are treated equally under the law.

Second, understanding what the anti-lynching bill actually addresses is particularly relevant. To be perfectly clear, lynching and murder are already against the law. Hate crime statutes have been on the federal books for more than50 years and murdering someone because of his or her race has been a federal hate crime for over a decade.

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., speaks during a virtual Senate Committee for Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions hearing, Tuesday, May 12, 2020 on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Win McNamee/Pool via AP)(Photo: Win McNamee, AP)

Because I stand so strongly behind the belief that a hateful crime such as lynching deserves a severe sentence, I could not support a bill that places such a low threshold on what could be considered a lynching. My immediate concern was the unintended consequence of making victims out of the very people we seek to protect.

Related: Jesse Jacksoncalls for Rand Paul to end opposition to anti-lynching bill

Gerth: Rand Paul's timing impeccable as he blocks lynching bill during racial unrest

For example, Tiffany Harris is a black woman from New York and was arrested in December 2019 after slapping three Jewish women and making a religious slur. Harris was initially charged with a misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in jail. But, if she were convicted under a federal hate crime statute, she could be sentenced for up to 10years in prison.

I fear that, with the low threshold provided in this bill, the jury trial will be eroded. Prosecutors will inevitably threaten people guilty of the crimes like those committed by Tiffany Harris with trumped up charges in an effort to obtain a plea bargain.

Prosecutors already have enough blank checks. I do not intend on giving them another one.

This is why I have led on criminal justice reform. For too long, Congress ignored the impact of our systems harsh penalties, turning a blind eye as mandatory minimum sentences led to the problem of over-criminalization and mass incarceration. A 10-year sentence for slapping someone is an abomination and the law has already incarcerated too many people unfairly. I am trying to preclude that kind of unintended consequence.

But you dont need to take my word for it. I actually encourage you to take a look at my record and the nearly two dozen justice reform bills Ive authored and co-sponsored In the Senate. But the left would prefer to politicize my record on criminal justice reform contorting facts and quotes to fit a rigid narrative that all Republicans are to blame. That is not only uncalled for, but completely counterproductive to what I thought we all were fighting for.

Instead of personal slander and innuendo you would think a newspaper of record would have the decency to portray my attempts to strengthen the Emmett Till Antilynching Act honestly.

We passed the First Step Act to begin to fix some of the racial disparities in criminal justice.I led that bipartisan effort, first meeting with President Obama and ultimately getting it passed under President Trump.It only happened because partisans put away the slings and arrows of partisanship to address serious inequities in our system.

Is it too much to ask that we try again, in a bipartisan way, to work together to come up with an anti-lynching bill that doesnt unintentionally mete out 10-year sentences for minor altercations?

The terrible act of lynching deserves the most severe penalty we can apply. But the bill as written could potentially define slapping someone as a lynching and thereby eligible for 10years in prison.That is an injustice and the public deserves to know the facts.

We can work together for a better future, or we can continue to divide our nation by hurling unfounded insults and silencing important perspectives that could lead to real progress.No matter how loud the noise gets, no matter what comes my way, I will always continue to work for a more just America.

Rand Paul,a Republican,represents Kentucky in the U.S. Senate.

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Rand Paul: I didn't block anti-lynching bill, I attempted to strengthen it - Courier Journal

Dear Friend,

The recent deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor are tragedies and injustices. There is no excuse for the actions of those involved, or the abuse of government power that enables tragedies like these.

Since entering the Senate, I have been a leading advocate for criminal justice reform, and you can find a video covering some of my work and statements on this critical issueHERE.

Dr. Rand Paul Introduces Legislation and Senate Rule Change to Enact Congressional Transparency

Too often in Congress, legislation is pushed through without hearings, amendments, or debate.

I firmly believe the American people have a right to be part of the legislative process, and, this week, I reintroduced multiple reforms to improve that process -the Write the Laws Act (filed in the Senate as S. 3904), the One Subject at a Time Act (S. 3845), and the Read the Bills Act (S. 3879), as well as a Read the Bills change to Senate rules and procedure.

The rule change would require the Senate, unless it waives the rule by a three-fifths majority vote after three hours of debate for the American people to see, to wait one legislative day for every 20 pages in a proposed bill before it could hold a vote.

This would help prevent legislation, often totaling hundreds of pages, from being rammed through the Senate at the last minute.

The Write the Laws Act, One Subject at a Time Act, and Read the Bills Act (which would require a seven-day waiting period before voting on legislation) would restore the constitutional principle of separation of powers, end the practice of including more than one subject in a single bill, and preserve the constitutional authority of Congress.

These bills, which I originally introduced in the 112th Congress, will allow citizens sufficient time to read legislation and give input to members of Congress as it considers policies that impact all Americans lives.

I will continue to stand by my pledge to increase transparency and accessibility in the U.S. Senate.

Dr. Rand Paul Helps Military Veteran Receive Honors at Funeral

The novel coronavirus pandemic has changed so much about our daily lives, including some of our most time-honored traditions.

Recently, my team learned that Kentuckian, Vietnam veteran, and Purple Heart recipient James Shaw, who passed away on Saturday, would not be able to receive military honors at his funeral due to the COVID-19 restrictions.

My staff worked together with the Betts & West Funeral Home in Nicholasville, KY, and the VA to make sure this veteran could be recognized for his service, and I'm pleased to report that our efforts were successful, as the Military Freedom Festorganization provided the honors at his service this week.

You can find LEX 18's report on this storyHERE!

Dr. Rand Paul on Justin Walker Nomination Advancing to the Senate Floor

On Thursday, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee voted in favor of Judge Justin Walker's nomination to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, our nation's second most powerful court, and I look forward to his approval by the full Senate soon!

I recommended Judge Walker to the Trump administration for his current seat on the Western Kentucky District Court, and I was honored to introduce him at the Judiciary Committee's hearing on his nomination in May.

Im very pleased that President Trump reached outside the Beltway-to-New York bubble to elevate a judge who is committed to our Constitution, I said at the time.

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Rand Paul's weekly report - The Falmouth Outlook

KENTUCKY-GOVERNOR-HEALTH CARE

Kentucky governor looks to address racial inequities

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) During his first six months in office, Kentucky's governor has juggled dual crises he had no way of anticipating. Now, Gov. Andy Beshear wants to take on racial inequities as he grapples with fallout from the coronavirus and protests over the shooting death of Breonna Taylor by Louisville police. Beshear declared his intent to expand health care coverage to every black Kentuckian, to provide anti-bias training for police and increase the number of black teachers. Beshears focus comes as COVID-19 spreads disproportionately among black Kentuckians, and as Louisville copes with protests demanding justice for Taylor.

JEFFERSON DAVIS STATUE-KENTUCKY

Kentucky panel votes to remove Davis statue from Capitol

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) A Kentucky commission has voted to remove a statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis from the state Capitol. The panel supported a push from the governor as the country faces protests against police brutality following the death of a black man who had been pinned down by a Minneapolis police officer. The Historic Properties Advisory Commission voted 11-1 Friday to move the 15-foot (4.5-meter) marble statue of Davis to a state historic site in southern Kentucky where the Confederate leader was born. The decision came two days after another Davis statue was toppled by protesters in Virginia.

POLICE BRUTALITY COMPLAINT

2 teens accuse Kentucky police of brutality

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) Two Kentucky teenagers have accused police in Lexington of using too much force during a fraud investigation. Eighteen-year-old Preston Gage Slone and 19-year-old Elena Amayrany Perez told news outlets they were assaulted by Lexington police and a Kentucky State Police trooper when Slone attempted to redeem several U.S. savings bonds at a Chase Bank. Lexington police said the encounter on Tuesday is under review and the agency regrets any fear, anxiety, and injuries" that officers caused. Slone said at one point he was pushed to the ground and felt officers knees on his neck, head and back. Officers determined there was no fraud, and the teens weren't charged.

AMERICA PROTESTS-KENTUCKY-BREONNA TAYLOR

Louisville bans 'no-knocks' after Breonna Taylor's death

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) Louisville, Kentucky, has banned the use of controversial no-knock warrants and named the new ordinance for Breonna Taylor. She was fatally shot by Louisville officers who burst into her home in March. The citys Metro Council unanimously voted Thursday night to ban the controversial warrants after days of protests and calls for reform. Taylor was shot eight times by officers on March 13 conducting a narcotics investigation. No drugs were found at her home. Her mother, Tamika Palmer, said the new law will save lives. Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul also introduced federal legislation Thursday that would ban the use of the warrants nationwide.

JEFFERSON DAVIS STATUE-KENTUCKY

Kentucky governor seeks vote to oust Davis bust from Capitol

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) Kentuckys governor has asked a state commission to vote to remove a statue of Jefferson Davis from the Capitols Rotunda, a day after another statue of the Confederate president was toppled by protesters in Virginia. Gov. Andy Beshears request comes amid a rapidly unfolding protest movement to pull down Confederate monuments around the U.S. after the death of George Floyd, a black man who died in police custody in Minnesota. The Davis statue is one of several in the Rotunda and is located not far from a bronze likeness of Abraham Lincoln. Both Civil War adversaries were born in Kentucky.

VIRUS OUTBREAK-FOREST SERVICE

Developed campgrounds reopen in Daniel Boone National Forest

WINCHESTER, Ky. (AP) Developed campgrounds within the Daniel Boone National Forest are reopening to visitors after being temporarily shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Forest Service said in a statement that campsites were available to visitors beginning on Thursday. Restroom facilities were open, but the agency said some amenities could be limited and suggested calling ahead. Visitor centers and swimming sites remain closed. The Forest Service says it is reopening sites as it assesses facility cleanliness, maintenance status, and health and safety. Other recreation sites including Red River Gorge, picnic areas and shooting ranges had already reopened.

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Latest Kentucky news, sports, business and entertainment at 3:20 pm EDT - WYMT News

As Congress prepares to wade into a contentious debate over legislation to address police brutality and systemic racial bias, a long-simmering dispute in the Senate over a far less controversial bill that would for the first time explicitly make lynching a federal crime has burst into public view.

The bill, called the Emmett Till Antilynching Act after the 14-year-old black teen from Chicago who was tortured and killed in 1955 in Mississippi, predates the recent high-profile deaths of three black men and women at the hands of white police and civilians that have inspired protests across the country. It passed the House this year by a vote of 410-4 and has the backing of 99 senators, who have urged support for belated federal recognition of a crime that once terrorized black Americans.

But the private objections of one Republican, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, have succeeded for months in preventing it from becoming law. At a time when lawmakers are looking at an array of other, potentially more divisive proposals to respond to a spate of recent killings of black Americans, the impasse illustrates the volatile mix of raw emotion and political division that has often frustrated attempts by Congress to enact meaningful changes in the law when it comes to matters of racial violence.

The issue erupted on the Senate floor Thursday, when Paul sought to narrow the bills definition of lynching and push the revised measure through without a formal vote, drawing angry rebukes from two of the bills authors, Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey and Kamala Harris of California, both black Democrats.

Paul argued that the lynching bill was sloppily written and could lead to yet another injustice excessive sentencing for minor infractions unless it was revised.

This bill would cheapen the meaning of lynching by defining it so broadly as to include a minor bruise or abrasion, he said. Our national history of racial terrorism demands more seriousness of us than that.

Paul said that he takes lynching seriously, but this legislation does not.

Harris rose to object, delivering a seething broadside against Paul as she noted that even as they debated, mourners were gathering to honor George Floyd, the black man who died in police custody in Minneapolis on Memorial Day.

The idea that we would not be taking the issue of lynching seriously is an insult an insult to Senator Booker and Senator Tim Scott and myself, she said on the chamber floor, referring to the South Carolina Republican who helped write the bill and is the GOPs lone black senator.

To suggest that lynching would only be a lynching if someones heart was pulled out and displayed to someone else is ridiculous, she added. It should not require a maiming or torture for us to recognize a lynching when we see it and recognize it by federal law and call it what it is, which is that it is a crime that should be punishable with accountability and consequence.

At issue is what, exactly, counts as lynching under federal law. The bill would add a new section called lynching to the civil rights statute to deal with group violence meant to intimidate people of color or other protected groups. The offense would be classified as a conspiracy by two or more people to cause bodily harm in connection with a hate crime, with penalties up to life in prison if convicted. Paul proposed to raise the bar beyond the standard in federal hate crimes statutes, to serious bodily injury, so that only crimes involving conspiracy to cause substantial risk of death and extreme physical pain could be charged as lynching, according to aides.

Such crimes can already be considered hate crimes under state and federal law. But the term lynching has deep historical significance, and the fact that it has never been formally outlawed has been an enduring symbol of Congress inability to fully reckon with the nations history of racial violence. The issue has taken on even greater significance in recent days.

Harris called the recent killing of Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old black man jogging in Georgia who was chased down and shot by white men, a modern lynching. In court Thursday, one of the men charged with murder in the case said he heard another use a racial slur as Arbery lay dying.

Members of Congress have been fighting in one way or another to pass federal anti-lynching laws for more than a century, introducing nearly 200 such bills in the first half of the 20th century.

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Sen. Rand Paul holds up anti-lynching legislation - Minneapolis Star Tribune

National Guard troops stand with bayonets fixed as African-American sanitation workers peacefully march by while wearing placards reading "I AM A MAN." The nonviolent march contrasted with a similar demonstration the day before, when there was a racial outburst and a black teenager was slain by police. Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., who had left town after the first march, would soon return and be assassinated.

Attacking The Press

The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker received reports of more than 300 violations of press freedoms between May 25 and June 3. The violations include physical assault, arrest, damage or seizure of equipment. According to TIME Magazine, the organization usually receives 100-150 claims per year. Its a scale that we have not seen before, Kirstin McCudden, managing editor of the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, told TIME. Its unprecedented in scope without a doubt.

The Spies Are Spooked

CIA veterans who spent their careers monitoring social breakdown come at us like a firehose, spraying information, disinformation and quotable tweets. And that was before the pandemic. Now with more than 100,00 dead, staged presidential photo ops and protests proclaiming black lives matter and decrying systematic racism in all 50 states, theres even more news flying under the radar. The team at BillMoyers.com brings you the news you need to know some of it good, some of it outrageous, all of it important that you may have missed.

Say Their Names

While all four officers involved in killing George Floyd now face charges, Black Americans who have been killed or injured by police continue to wait for justice. These are two of the names you should know:

Breonna Taylor, a 26 year-old EMT, was shot and killed in her Louisville, KY home by police officers with a no-knock warrant on March 13. None of the officers involved in her death currently face charges. Friday, June 5 would have been her 27th birthday.

Manuel Ellis, a musician and father of two, was detained by police on March 3 in Tacoma, WA. While he was restrained he told the arresting officers he could not breathe and he subsequently died. The medical examiner found that his death was a result of oxygen deprivation and the physical restraint used on him and ruled it a homicide. The four officers involved were placed on paid administrative leave. abroad see unnerving parallels in President Trumps handling of the nationwide protests. The Washington Post reports: In interviews and posts on social media in recent days, current and former U.S. intelligence officials have expressed dismay at the similarity between events at home and the signs of decline or democratic regression they were trained to detect in other nations. Ive seen this kind of violence, said Gail Helt, a former CIA analyst responsible for tracking developments in China and Southeast Asia. This is what autocrats do. This is what happens in countries before a collapse. It really does unnerve me.

Weapons of War

A bipartisan group of lawmakers is pushing to end a Pentagon program that transfers military equipment to local law enforcement agencies. President Obama placed limitations on the program in 2015, but President Trump overturned those limits, claiming that law enforcement needed the equipment, which includes grenade launchers, armoured vehicles and explosives to protect themselves and their communities.

Historic Low

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) prevented the historic Emmett Till Antilynching Act from passing Congress yesterday. The bill passed the House in February with wide bipartisan support, but Paul claims its definition of lynching is too broad. Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA), who introduced the bill with Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), called Pauls claim ridiculous. In a passionate speech from the Senate floor, Harris said That we would not be taking the issue of lynching seriously is an insult, an insult to Sen. Booker, an insult to Sen. Tim Scott and myself, and all of the senators past and present who have understood this is part of the great stain of Americas history. The Senate could simply hold a roll call vote to pass the legislation but, Politico reports, GOP leadership has no plans to devote floor time to the bill.

The Rich Are Different

More than 11,000 people have been arrested since the George Floyd protests began last week, but Buzzfeed reports that prosecutions of white collar crime are way down just 359 white-collar crimes were federally prosecuted in the entire month of January, down 25% from 2015 levelsIf prosecutions continue at the same pace for the remainder of 2020, they are projected to fall to 5,175 almost half the level of their Obama-era peak, according to TRAC, a research group at Syracuse University that tracks federal law enforcement patterns.

At the same time, the IRS has failed to pursue almost a million high-income individuals who have failed to pay taxes: The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration found that 879,415 high-income individuals who didnt file returns cumulatively failed to pay $45.7 billion in taxes from 2014 to 2016 and that the agency hasnt tried to collect from many of those taxpayers. The IRS didnt put 326,579 of the cases into its enforcement system, and it closed 42,601 of the cases without ever working on them. In addition, the remaining 510,235 high-income nonfilers, totaling estimated tax due of $24.9 billion, are sitting in one of the collection functions inventory streams and will likely not be pursued as resources decline, said the report, released Monday.

No Country For Old Men

Nearly 26,000 nursing home residents have died from COVID-19 and more than 60,000 have fallen ill, according to recently released federal data. However, these figures only reflect numbers for about 80 percent of nursing homes nationwide so the real total is likely much higher.

Eye On The Bailout

Deputy Treasury Secretary Justin Muzinich is the Treasury official in charge of overseeing the federal coronavirus bailout and ProPublica found that A major beneficiary of that bailout so far: Muzinich & Co., the asset manager founded by his father where Justin served as president before joining the administration. He reported owning a stake worth at least $60 million when he entered government in 2017. Today, Muzinich retains financial ties to the firm through an opaque transaction in which he transferred his shares in the privately held company to his father. Ethics experts say the arrangement is troubling because his father received the shares for no money up front, and it appears possible that Muzinich can simply get his stake back after leaving government.

And this week the Senate confirmed Brian Miller, a White House lawyer, as special inspector general for pandemic recovery. Miller will act as a watchdog for the $5 billion passed in the CARES Act.

Meanwhile, NBC News reports that private jet owners could receive a subsidy from coronavirus relief funds. And Bloomberg found Almost one-third of unemployment benefits estimated to be owed to the millions of Americans who lost their jobs as a result of the coronavirus slump havent been paid yet.

The Power Of The Pen

President Trump protected restrictions on student loan forgiveness issued by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos by vetoing a measure that would have overturned them. Axios reports several veterans groups have argued that the rules, which make it more difficult for student borrowers to prove that a college defrauded them, will harm former service members cheated by for-profit colleges.

And the EPA issued a final rule gutting section 401 of the Clean Water Act which will limit states ability to block pipeline projects that cross their waterways.

Primary Results

Nine states and D.C. held primary elections on Tuesday. The elections resulted in historic wins for women of color across the country. Ella James was elected mayor of Ferguson, MO, the first woman and the first Black person to lead the city. Her election comes six years after protests in Ferguson over the police killing of Michael Brown, a Black teenager, brought the Black Lives Matter movement to nationwide prominence.

And nine-term Republican Rep. Steve King, known for his racist language and ideas, lost his primary race in Iowa.

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In Other News: Rand Paul Blocked the Emmett Till Antilynching Act - BillMoyers.com