Sen. Rand Paul’s call to cut the Trump administration’s request on border security spending for the president’s “big, beautiful bill” has left him on the sidelines for negotiations on the megabill, even while, as chair of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, he would technically be in charge.

Instead, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who chairs the chamber’s Budget Committee, said this week he’s the lead negotiator in the talks on the border part of the budget, adding that he offered himself to the administration to be the pointman on the border security parts of the bill, reported Politico on Friday.

“Senator Paul usually votes ‘no’ and blames everybody else for not being pure enough,” said Graham in the interview. “As chairman, you … don’t have that luxury sometimes. You have to do things as chairman [that] you wouldn’t have to do as a rank-and-file member.

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