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Pence hit the road once again on Wednesday to promote the Trump administration's agenda. It's a seat that he's comfortable in: traveling to politically important states and selling healthcare on behalf of the administration, something he's been doing since the spring.

While the president had no public events on Wednesday, the vice president traveled to Kentucky, a state that voted overwhelmingly for Donald Trump in the election, for a roundtable listening session, a speech, and a private reception in Lexington.

Pence boldly promised the crowd that the administration and Congress would repeal and replace Obamacare "before the summer's out."

"Let me say from my heart, the President and I really like Senator Rand Paul. Senator Rand Paul is a great conservative and a great legislator and he does Kentucky proud," Pence said from the podium.

In a political move, Pence placed blame on Democrats for obstructing the path toward reforming the healthcare policy.

"I mean, Democrats in Congress would rather let Obamacare implode than admit their mistake and help Republican majorities rescue the American people."

Toward the end of his remarks, Pence sent a clear message to the two senators.

"When the time comes, Senator Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul will do the right thing together and we will pass legislation to repeal and replace Obamacare," the vice president declared.

Originally posted here:
Pence sends a message to McConnell, Paul on healthcare in their own backyard - CNN

WASHINGTON A maverick Republican senator is warning party leaders against striking a compromise with Democrats should the GOP health care bill collapse.

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul says if Republicans took that step, conservative voters would rebel.

Paul spoke Tuesday on the Fox News Channel as top Republicans hope to stage a climactic vote next week on their bill erasing much of President Barack Obamas health care law.

Internal Republican differences have left the measures fate in question.

Senate Majority Mitch McConnell of Kentucky is suggesting changes aimed at winning enough GOP votes to prevail. The measure will lose if just three of the 52 GOP senators oppose it.

McConnell has said if the bill collapses, hed focus on writing a more limited bill. It would likely require Democratic support.

Republican leaders want to stage a climactic vote on their health care bill next week. But internal rifts over issues like coverage requirements and Medicaid cuts leave the timing and even the measures fate unclear.

Some Republicans said Monday that a revised version of their bill erasing much of President Barack Obamas health care law could be introduced Thursday. And No. 2 Senate GOP leader John Cornyn of Texas said the goal was for a vote next week.

Cornyn cited seven years of unresolved Republican debate over how to replace the 2010 statute. That underscored a sense among top Republicans that they had little to gain by letting their disputes drag on much further.

Consensus on a replacement seemed more remote than ever as senators returned from July 4 recess.

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Sen. Rand Paul says no compromise with Dems on health care - Chicago Sun-Times

Remember when it was "never Trump" for Cruz and Paul? Campaign Action

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) has elbowed his way in to align himself with popular vote loser Donald Trump on Trumpcare, saying "I think President Trumps absolutely right that we should pass a clean repeal" if Senate Republicans can't come up with a bill that gets 50 votes. But Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) isn't going to let anyone forget that he was the first one to claim credit for what was actually Sen. Ben Sasse's (R-NE) bright ideaget Trump on board with a "clean" repeal. So while he and his senior senator Mitch McConnell are both back home in Kentucky, Paul is pushing hisand Trump'sagenda.

I talked to the president about it. He was very receptive, Paul told reporters in Louisville after a closed-door meeting with national restaurant groups. We havent had any feedback from the Senate Republican leadership.

Paul is carefully nurturingand usinghis relationship with Trump, the guy he called an "orange-faced windbag" not so long ago. For whatever reason, Trump wants Paul's vote on this, and keeps inviting him to the White House to talk about it. It gets Paul what he wantsnational media attention. It's not clear what it gets Trump. Maybe he actually thinks Paul has some kind of influence? Given how little Trump seems to understand about how government stuff works, that's a possibility. Regardless, Paul and Trump "lately [] seem more intent on tearing the law down than building a new one, undercutting McConnells efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act simultaneously."

They're all fighting for something truly awfuleradicating Obamacare and all the protections that came with it. And in doing so, might just save it. At the very least, they're accelerating the splintering of the Republican Senate and doing real damage to McConnell as a leader. None of that is bad.

We delayed Trumpcarefor now. But the GOP leadership is hell-bent on denying health insurance, and is working hard to coerce Republican senators. We need threeRepublicans to stand firm. Call your senator at (202) 224-3121 and tell them NO DEAL. Then, tell us how it went.

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Rand Paul vies with Ted Cruz to be Trump's Trumpcare BFF - Daily Kos

Sen. Rand Paul has not been quiet about his displeasure with the Republican healthcare bill as it was written, saying many times that he can't vote for it unless it looks more like an actual repeal of Obamacare.

Paul has derided Republicans for dropping the essence of their previous "repeal and replace" mantra for another big government approach, which promises an infusion of more federal money into the healthcare system.

Now that Paul has voiced support for separating the repeal effort from the replace effort into two different bills, he has distinguished himself even further from the rest of his caucus as one of the few remaining small government, pro-liberty Republicans.

Commenting on the current bill, he said, "We have nearly $200 billion in insurance bailouts. Does anybody remember us complaining that Obamacare had insurance bailouts?"

He continued, "Now, there are Republicans getting so weak-kneed they are saying, oh, we're afraid to repeal the taxes. What happened to these people? They all were for repealing Obamacare. Now there's virtually no one left," and continuing, "every time you add more federal money, more spending, for the big government Republicans, it offends the conservatives."

Paul also said on Cavuto: "You could say to the moderates we are going to give you more spending over here but it's going to be on a separate bill, and then you say to conservatives like me that are worried about the debt and think that we're going to ruin the country I can't vote for all that spending so if you want my vote, clean up the repeal, don't put all the Christmas ornaments and billion dollar goodies on it, just give me repeal, and if the Democrats and big government Republicans insist on Christmas ornaments that cost $45 billion and $100 billion, it'll be on a different bill."

His implication is clear: he wants to reduce the federal government's role in health care as he and others in his party previously promised to do and is, therefore, a conservative, and those Republicans supporting this bill are not.

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Rand Paul is going to war with his own party - Washington Examiner

Arifoto Ug/dpa/picture-alliance/NewscomSeveral U.S. senators, including Rand Paul (R-KY), want Attorney General Jeff Session to reassure industrial hemp farmers that the Justice Department will abide by legislation restricting federal interference in the fledgeling industry.

In a letter to Sessions released Friday, Sens. Paul, Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Al Franken (D-MN), and Michael Bennet (D-CO), said several participants in industrial hemp pilot programs in their states reported they have been or are at risk of having their personal and business accounts closed by jittery banks.

Banking concern "is evidently due to the uncertainty of the continued legal status of the industrial hemp industry, and because the funds contained in the accounts are associated with industrial hemp," according to the letter to Sessions.

"While we do not believe the government should compel financial institutions to do business with the hemp industry," the senators wrote, "we are worried that the fear and uncertainty of government actionthat the Department of Justice will roll back certain protections for legal industrial hemp entitiesis causing financial institutions to close these accounts."

The 2014 farm bill passed by Congress allowed state agriculture departments and universities to start industrial hemp pilot programs. The law enforcement arm of the federal government was much less enthused about the programs than the legislative branch. As my colleague Jacob Sullum reported in May 2014, Customs and Border Patrol agents, acting under orders from the Drug Enforcement Administration, seized 250 pounds of hemp seeds intended for pilot farming projects in Kentucky.

Since then, Congress has continually passed appropriations bills, most recently this year, blocking the Justice Department from interfering in the industry or going after financial institutions that handle hemp funds. (This effort has no doubt been helped by the fact that GOP Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell represents Kentucky.)

Several states have enacted legislation this year to create pilot programs or expand industrial hemp farming, including West Virginia, Oregon, South Carolina, and Florida. Meanwhile, Kentucky's pilot program, started in 2014, has been experiencing a mini-boom.

Access to banking is still a struggle for the hemp industry, much like the industry for hemp's narcotic cousin, marijuana. In November of last year, Vice reported that many hemp farmers in Colorado were turning to Bitcoin to solve their banking woes.

Sessions has been a notable foe of marijuana legalization although, for now, the federal government's detente with states that have legalized the drug remains in place.

Sessions' reassurance that the Justice Department will stay out of the hemp industry, the senators say, will provide reassurance to both the industry and banks.

The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Watch ReasonTV's 2012 video on Hemp History Week and ending the war on George Washington's favorite crop:

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Rand Paul Presses Jeff Sessions on Industrial Hemp Policy - Reason (blog)