If President Barack Obama offers to bail out Detroit, be certain that Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) will do all he can to stop it. In an interview with Breitbart Friday, Paul declared that he will oppose any attempts by the federal government to save the struggling city.
"I basically say [Obama] is bailing them out over my dead body because we don’t have any money in Washington," he told the conservative news site.
Paul added that bankruptcy can often lead to positive change ("You get to start over," the senator reasoned) and that state and local leaders are the ones who need to make the right choices to get Detroit back on its feet. Obama can't send the message that the federal government will save any and all failing cities and states, he said.
After decades of trouble, Detroit became the biggest U.S. city to file for bankruptcy Thursday.
"Only one feasible path offers a way out," Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder said of the decision, according to the Associated Press.
Though Paul insists that Obama has made "indications that Detroit can be expected to be bailed out," the White House has not mentioned such a move. As USA Today's David Jackson pointed out Friday, Obama's administration has "made clear for months not to expect any sort of federal bailout for the now-bankrupt city."
Bill Nowling, spokesman for Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr, told the Detroit News that White House officials seemed clear about their intentions during an April meeting with city leaders.
“There was never a formal ask, but I think the way it was portrayed to me that it was pretty clear there was going to be no bailout ...akin to what we saw in scope and intent for the autos or for Wall Street,” he said.
In response to Detroit's bankruptcy filing, the White House said this week that Obama and his senior advisers will be monitoring the situation in Michigan, adding that it would "continue to partner with Detroit as it tries to recover and maintain its status as one of America's great cities."
