Sen. Rand Paul and wife, Kelley Paul, attend patriotic tea party in Bowling Green

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – The Republican Women’s Club of South Central Kentucky is helping celebrate America’s 250th birthday.

The group hosted a Patriotic Tea Party featuring U.S. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) and his wife, Kelley Paul.

During the event, Kelley Paul read from two of her patriotic children’s book to families in attendance.

News 40 spoke with Sen. Rand Paul about the importance of celebrating the nation’s 250th birthday, and the role events like this play in sharing American history with the next generation.

“It is about celebrating 250 years and just the remarkable aspects of our founding. When I think about it, I think about, for the first time really in history, we had a country founded on merit, but it didn’t matter who your parents were, it didn’t matter what your parents did. It was what you did and that really, it was a meritocracy,” said Sen. Rand Paul.

We also asked Sen. Rand Paul about his recent vote against legislation aimed at addressing housing affordability.

The 21st Century Road to Housing Act would have limited the number of single-family homes that large corporations could purchase, a measure supporters say would help improve housing affordability.

Paul was one of five senators to vote against the bill.

He said, “The bill would have said certain people who own homes cannot sell their homes to other people. They said you couldn’t sell your home to corporate America. To me, that’s sort of a judgment call. And if you’ve got your house for sale here in Bowling Green and I’ll pay you $100,000 for it, but some corporation will pay $120,000. Who is the government to say you can’t sell your house to the highest bidder?”

The bill passed both the House and Senate with overwhelming bipartisan support.

President Donald Trump said he will delay signing the measure until Congress passes his Save America Act, a separate election-related bill.