Watch: Sen. Rand Paul Walks Out of Hearing After Sparks Fly Over Amendments
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) clashed with a Democratic colleague over amendments during a Homeland Security Committee hearing — leading to the Republican lawmaker walking out. During Tuesday’s hearing, Paul offered several…

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) clashed with a Democratic colleague over amendments during a Homeland Security Committee hearing — leading to the Republican lawmaker walking out.
During Tuesday’s hearing, Paul offered several amendments to the Fire Grants and Safety Act. Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), who chairs the committee, then explained he also had a second-degree amendment to offer, which led to Paul chiming to say he already “called up a second-degree amendment.”
At one point during their back-and-forth exchange, Paul said, “If this is the way you’re going to run the committee, I would suggest that Republicans leave. I don’t see why we should stick around if you’re going to make up the rules.”
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) then said: “I would just suggest we all take a couple minutes, lower the temperature, just figure out what the procedure is. There’s no need for us to turn this committee hearing into a partisan, ugly place like we’ve seen in other committees. We don’t need to do that.”
Not backing down, the Kentucky senator said, “I, for one, won’t stay here and would recommend that no Republican stay here if we’re going to have a third-degree amendment that only the majority gets to offer.”
Paul, the ranking member on the committee, proceeded to leave.


