“I do support unemployment benefits for the 26 weeks that they’re paid for,” he said. “If you extend it beyond that, you do a disservice to these workers.”

Paul is a convert. He and his four siblings were all baptized in the Episcopal Church, but Paul has said that he became a Christian as a teenager and he converted when he moved with his wife to Bowling Green, Ky., in 1993 and started attending the Presbyterian Church, where his wife is a deacon.

Paul has spoken of the Presbyterian Church and Christianity on the whole as a safeguard for morality, saying that Christianity is the basis of American society and values, and that "it helps a society to have that religious underpinning. ... I think it helps to have a people who believe in law and order and who have a moral compass or a moral basis for their day-to-day life." He has also said, "I personally think you could probably have prayer in public school."

The 1-year-old puppy tried to escape her handler, knocking down 2-year-old Ashtyn Gardner in the process.

The little girl got up quickly, and her dad, John, said she was fine.

Michelle Obama was present and helped Ashytn to her feet. The first lady later checked on the little girl again and gave her a hug.

Obama was unveiling the 2013 holiday decorations and had invited military families and their children to see them.

John Gardner, a member of the Navy from Mobile, Ala., was there with his wife and three kids.

The children were decorating ornaments, making Rudolf reindeers out of lunch bags and fashioning paper poinsettias when the incident occurred.

Both dogs stayed in the room and there were no further accidents.