Dear Meade County Residence,

The last day to apply for FEMA assistance for the Dec. 10-11 tornadoes and severe weather is Monday, March 14. If you are in need of assistance, you can reach my Bowling Green office at (270) 782-8303, and one of my staff members will be happy to help.

You can find my latest update below!

Dr. Rand Paul Responds to President Biden’s State of the Union Address

Last Tuesday during President Biden’s first State of the Union Address, you heard a speech by someone who doesn’t know what’s going on in the union, or at least is hoping you don’t know. In response to Biden’s message, I recorded my own response to address the actual state of the union. You can watch it HERE or below.

What is the state of the union?

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has led to the worst crisis in Europe since World War II.

Massive inflation is everywhere, the likes of which we haven’t seen since the malaise of Jimmy Carter.

Parents are frustrated by almost 2 years of bureaucrats messing with their kids’ schooling.

Everyday Americans seeing their freedom, jobs and livelihoods stolen from them by petty tyrants drunk on power with lockdowns and mandates.

The state of the union — is frankly pretty poor, and Americans are largely unhappy with Biden’s performance.

There have been many casualties of the Biden policies so far. Science. Freedom. Prosperity. Strength in the world.

These are not small matters, and they’ve all happened in barely over a year. I shudder to think what will happen if these policies continue unchecked.

Democrats in Congress who clapped and cheered on Tuesday bear much of the blame as well. They passed the spending bills and enabled the appointees who have made this mess.

Thankfully, one thing I can say without flinching about Americans is that the state of our union can and will bounce back.

We can get our spending under control. We can retake our freedom. We can stop the left from taking over our schools and we can fix our foreign policy again.

It starts now. Parents are fighting back. People are listening to other voices with real science on their side. And men and women are running for office to take back Congress.

Next year, I am hopeful the message will be better, our outlook brighter.  For now, keep fighting and hoping, and our best days can and will be in our future.

Dr. Rand Paul Tours Hope House’s New Program Living for Women Center in Bowling Green

Last Monday, Kelley and I toured Hope House’s new Program Living for Woman center in downtown Bowling Green.

The new center will provide a 12-month residential recovery program for women facing addiction, incarceration, homelessness, abuse, and also offer Bible study, individual counseling, physical fitness, employment development, family visitation, peer-to-peer mentoring, and after care.

Program Living for Women was made possible in part by a grant from the Coalition for Public Safety, a national bipartisan organization advocating for criminal justice reform. The grant was awarded in 2020 after a competitive, nationwide search for new and innovative programs including those aimed at promoting public safety, addressing addiction and mental health crises, providing second chances for people who have been involved in the criminal justice system.

Despite challenges presented by COVID-19, it is remarkable to see Hope House continue to succeed and grow its mission to alleviate physical and spiritual poverty through gospel restoration.

Kelley and I are honored to be among the first to tour the facility and are looking forward to seeing all the good the new program and center does for our community.

You can learn more about Hope House HERE.

Dr. Rand Paul Speaks at Kentucky Farm Bureau Breakfast in Washington, D.C.

This past week, I spoke at the annual Kentucky Farm Bureau breakfast in Washington, D.C. It was great to be surrounded by good friends from Kentucky in our nation’s capital!

During my remarks, I addressed the fundamental role Kentucky farmers play in our economy and my efforts in the Senate as I continue my work of putting Kentucky first.

Kentucky farmers not only work hard to feed our state, but also feed the world.

Sometimes people take this prosperity for granted with all the advancements we have made to our supply chain over the decades. But for most of the world, poverty, lack of food, and starvation is the normal state of affairs.

We must understand where our ability to grow and produce our own food comes from – it comes from the hard work ethic that our Kentucky farmers embody every day.

Farmers are the backbone of this country, and while the Biden administration is proposing to tie the hands of our farmers with the remake of our economy and the Green New Deal, I will continue to fight any such legislation that hinders a free market and ensure our farms are safe from government overreach.

I’d like to thank Mark Haney, President of the Kentucky Farm Bureau, and his team for hosting this event, and I look forward to continually working with them to put Kentucky farmers first.

Dr. Rand Paul Cosponsors Emmett Till Antilynching Act of 2022

Recently, I joined Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ), Tim Scott (R-SC), and Raphael Warnock (D-GA) in cosponsoring the Emmett Till Antilynching Act of 2022, which would designate lynching as a federal hate crime.

I am a proud co-sponsor of this legislation, and all Americans should celebrate its imminent passage. Officially designating lynching a federal crime is a powerful statement. But, when Congress creates new federal crimes, it has a responsibility to ensure that the law is just.

That is exactly what I attempted to do when, over a year ago, I offered an amendment to strengthen an earlier version of the Emmett Till Antilynching Act. That version of the bill would have labeled a conspiracy to commit a vast array of different hate crimes, including those unrelated to physical harm to a person–such as defacing a church–a lynching.

Taking the time to get the bill right was, for some, an unpopular decision. Consideration of my amendment would inevitably slow the process of enacting the law, and some people, who were not inclined to give me the benefit of the doubt, hurled vile accusations at me on social media.

Sen. Cory Booker recognized my sincerity and agreed to work with me to make the bill stronger. Sen. Booker and I have collaborated to fight other injustices, such as mass incarceration. Our partnership worked because of a profound mutual respect for one another and a shared goal to right historic wrongs without inadvertently creating new victims.

This compromise took over a year to finalize. But the result of that compromise will be a historic law that finally recognizes lynching as a federal hate crime.

We owed it to Marie Thompson, to Emmett Till, and to the over 4,700 other victims of lynching in this country to get the law that honors them right.

You can learn more about the bill HERE, and read my op-ed on the legislation published in the Courier Journal HERE.

Dr. Rand Paul Honors Neeley Family Distillery of Sparta, Kentucky, as the U.S. Senate Small Business of the Week

As Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, each week I recognize an outstanding Kentucky small business that exemplifies the American entrepreneurial spirit. This week, I recognized Neeley Family Distillery of Sparta, Kentucky, as the Senate Small Business of the Week.

Founded in 2015, the Neeley Family Distillery bares a history far older than their date of official registration. The Neeley family has been distilling and bootlegging illegally in the mountains of Eastern Kentucky for eleven generations, with James Neeley distilling the first batch of Neeley family whiskey on American soil in 1740. James Neeley came to the New World with a mastery passed down to him by his Irish forefathers. Ten generations later, James’ descendant and lead distiller Royce Neeley uses many of these same skills to craft fine Kentucky Bourbon.

Though his single barrel bourbon earned him a gold medal from the 2020 World Spirits Competition, Royce is just as famous for his moonshine. Royce’s great grandfather Leonard Neeley developed the moonshine over one hundred years ago, by adding sugar to the original family recipe for rye whiskey. This concoction was so popular in the days of underground bootlegging that it led a vicious and at times violent rivalry with another local bootlegging family.

Carrying the torch that his forefather lit long ago, Royce brought the Neeley family name to the legal production of bourbon for the first time in 2015. Starting out as a young entrepreneur with a wealth of expertise, he steadily grew his business in the years to come. However, it was not until five years later that Royce switched gears and entered into a new kind of production.

Faced with gross shortages of essential products during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Neeley Family Distillery joined forces with other Kentucky distillers to produce nearly 125,000 gallons of hand sanitizer. Fulfilling this desperate need required immediate retooling of their facilities, sourcing of necessary products, and totally shutting down their production of bourbon. The COVID-19 pandemic illustrated that an industry, once spurned by authorities during the days of Prohibition, could rise to be great stewards of their community during times of hardship and duress.

The Neeley Family Distillery has since returned to their regular production of Kentucky’s iconic spirit, though they remain ready to answer the call of their community. Realizing the extent of destruction their western neighbors sustained in the 2021 tornados, the Neeley Family Distillery again joined forces with the Kentucky Distillers Association as well as the Bourbon Crusaders to organize a benefit auction in support of relief efforts. This once-in-a-lifetime bourbon auction led to a $3.4 million check benefiting the state’s Western Kentucky Tornado Relief Fund.

Small businesses like the Neeley Family Distillery are the lifeblood of towns across Kentucky, and the rich history of bourbon and its times of legal and illegal production is an intricate detail in the fabric of our state. The Neeley family proudly honors that history by continuing the tradition of fine Kentucky craftsmanship and looking out for one’s neighbor. Congratulations to the Neeley family and the entire distillery team. I wish them the best of luck and look forward to watching their continued growth and success in Kentucky.

You can learn more about the Neeley Family Distillery HERE.

Kentucky Tornado Disaster Assistance

I am committed to doing all that I can to assist local and state officials as they continue to manage the recovery effort, and my office is standing by to help those who are in need of help with filling FEMA claims, denied FEMA claims, applying for Small Business Administration loans, and replacing lost or damaged documents such as Social Security cards, VA records, military medals and records, and tax paperwork.

If you are in need of assistance, you can reach my Bowling Green office at (270) 782-8303, and one of my staff members will be happy to help.

The last day to apply for FEMA assistance for the Dec. 10-11 tornadoes and severe weather is Monday, March 14. If you are in need of assistance, you can reach my Bowling Green office at (270) 782-8303, and one of my staff members will be happy to help.

For more details on Kentucky tornado disaster relief information including a list of private and nonprofit, county by county resources please visit HERE.

For the latest information about the federal government’s ongoing disaster recovery efforts in Kentucky, please visit the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)’s Kentucky disaster webpage: www.fema.gov/disaster/4630

For the latest information about the Commonwealth’s ongoing disaster recovery efforts in Kentucky, including information about volunteering and donating critical supplies, please visit Kentucky Emergency Management (KY-EM)’s webpage: kyem.ky.gov

Have an Issue or Concern?

We owe it to the men and women who have served in combat to provide them with quality care for injuries sustained in defense of this nation and provide the necessary support tools as they adjust back to civilian life. My office and I are committed to serving those who served this country so bravely and ensuring our veterans are taken care of. If you or a loved one who has served in the military are in need, please let us know how we can help.

If you would like my office to assist with casework on your behalf, please fill out a Privacy Release Form HERE or visit www.paul.senate.gov/privacy-release-form to print a copy and mail it to my Bowling Green office.

If you are a Kentucky resident and need assistance with a federal agency or with navigating the federal response and ongoing community needs related to COVID-19, please feel free to contact my Bowling Green office at (270) 782-8303. One of my staff members will be more than happy to assist you.

Stay in Touch with Dr. Paul

You can stay up to date on my latest news and activities by visiting my Senate Website,www.paul.senate.gov, or my official Facebook and Twitter pages.

You can watch my Senate floor speeches and press interviews on Rumble HERE. You can also sign up to be notified about my telephone town hall events HERE.

Warm Regards,