Hoeven Was Having Dinner With The President While Rand Paul Filibustered

Senator Rand Paul got a lot of support from other Republicans last night when he filibustered President Obama’s CIA nominee over the refusal by the White House to clarify their position on assassinating US citizens.

Not among those Republicans on hand to help out? Senator John Hoeven, who instead went to dinner with President Obama and a group of other Republican Senators (via Gateway Pundit):

Senator Hoeven sent out this press release after his dinner with the President, and it certainly seems to this observer that what Senator Paul was doing in the Senate was a lot more important than what Senator Hoeven was doing over dinner:

HOEVEN STATEMENT ON PRESIDENT OBAMA’S DINNER MEETING WITH REPUBLICAN LEADERS

WASHINGTON – Senator John Hoeven today issued the following statement following his meeting on the nation’s fiscal challenges with President Barack Obama and Republican colleagues:

“This evening at our meeting with the president, we had an opportunity to express our views on the challenging task of getting our nation’s fiscal house in order, which requires three key elements: taking a pro-growth approach to our economy, reducing our spending in a thoughtful way, and preserving and protecting entitlement programs for the current and future generations of Americans.

“When our economy grows and more people are working, we broaden our tax base and our revenues increase, without raising taxes. A rising tide lifts all boats. To grow the economy the right way, we need to take a pro-growth approach, which means reducing bureaucracy and regulatory obstacles to business activity, and reforming our tax code to create jobs and make America the best place in the world to invest and do business.

“In addition to growing our economy, we must also find savings to put our nation on a healthy financial footing again. As the governor of North Dakota for ten years, that is what we did when we were on track to spend more than we had. Every governor in the nation has to make those difficult decisions, and so should the president and Congress.

“Finally, we need a thoughtful plan to preserve and protect Medicaid and Social Security so that these safety-net programs are there when our children and grandchildren need them.

“The president needs to stay directly engaged in these types of bipartisan meetings with members of Congress in order to reach real solutions for the American people.