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April 2, 2017, 2:05 PM EDT April 2, 2017, 5:39 PM EDT

President Donald Trump golfed Sunday with an outspoken Republican opponent of the failed legislation to repeal and replace Obamacare, hours after insisting theres enough love and strength among factions of the party to find a new path forward.

Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky and White House budget director Mick Mulvaney golfed with the president at Trump National Golf Club in Potomac Falls, Virginia.

We had a great day with the president. Played some golf and we talked about a little bit of health care, Paul told reporters on the White Houses South Lawn after returning from the outing. I continue to be very optimistic that we are getting closer and closer to an agreement on repealing Obamacare.

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White House spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham earlier told reporters the threesome planned to discuss a range of topics, including health care, during their round, which took place on a sunny spring day perfect for hitting the links. The match took place just days after Trump blasted conservative lawmakers in the House, saying the Freedom Caucus will hurt the entire Republican agenda if they dont get on the team, and fast.

House Speaker Paul Ryan pulled a Obamacare repeal-and-replace bill, which had been heavily promoted by Trump and White House aides, in late March after it became clear it faced too much opposition within the party and would be voted down on the House floor. Paul was among those who said it wouldnt have had sufficient support in the Senate either.

Trump said in tweets early Sunday that talks on Repealing and Replacing ObamaCare are, and have been, going on, and will continue until such time as a deal is hopefully struck.

Anybody, especially the media, who thinks that Repeal & Replace of ObamaCare is dead does not know the love and strength in the Republican Party, Trump assured his 27 million Twitter followers.

On March 30, Trump said he was ready to fight the conservative Freedom Caucus, whose opposition helped to doom Ryans bill. Trump and his aides have suggested he could back critics rivals in primaries ahead of the 2018 midterm elections.

Trump had called out several conservative Republicans by name, saying they could drag down the partys entire agenda. The Freedom Caucus will hurt the entire Republican agenda if they dont get on the team, & fast. We must fight them, & Dems, in 2018! the president tweeted Thursday.

Trump social media director Dan Scavino on Saturday urged a primary challenge against Representative Justin Amash of Michigan.

Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio, co-founder of the House Freedom Caucus, said Sunday that tweets, statements and blame from the White House dont change facts and that Ryans legislation fell short of promises Republicans had made to voters about how Obamacare would be ended.

It was better to start over and get this thing done right, Jordan said on CNNs State of the Union. If Amash were to face a primary opponent, Im going to do everything I can to help him, Jordan said.

Paul, 54, a board-certified ophthalmologist before following his father, former Representative Ron Paul, into politics, had a prickly relationship with Trump even before the health-care standoff. Paul was among the crowded 2016 presidential primary field that Trump blitzed on his way to the partys nomination and the White House.

In August 2015, Trump said in a statement that he had easily beat Paul in a golf game and will even more easily beat him now in the presidential campaign.

Golf Digest in November said that Paul plays off a 17 handicap. It estimated that Trump, then the president-elect, had a handicap of 2.8.

Continued here:
Trump Tees Off With Rand Paul to Show GOP 'Love' on Health Care - Bloomberg

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by Elias J. Atienza

Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) cosponsored the The Small Business Tax Equity Act which would require marijuana businesses in states where it is legalized to be taxed similar to other small businesses. It would also remove restrictions on marijuana businesses to claim tax credits and deductions.

This is part of Senator Ron Wydens (D-OR)attempt to force the federal government to treat cannabis like alcohol and remove cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act. Though Paul has not cosponsored his other bills, Wydens package, known as the Path to Marijuana Reform, is the most comprehensive marijuana reform to date.

The two other bills are theThe Responsibly Addressing the Marijuana Policy Gap Act and theThe Marijuana Revenue and Regulation Act. However, the Marijuana Revenue and Regulation Act might not be popular because it puts a 25 percent federal excise tax on marijuana in addition to the state tax, though it does remove marijuana from Schedule One on the Controlled Substances Act.

The Responsibly Addressing the Marijuana Act Policy Gap Act, however, would remove federal penalties as described by the Huffington Post:

This would remove federal penalties for marijuana sale and possession in states that have legalized pot. It would also give marijuana businesses access to banking services, allow veterans to access state-legal medical marijuana and protect Native American tribes from federal punishment for marijuana sale and use.

Wyden called out Attorney General Jeff Sessions for his opposition to marijuana legalization and his desire to crack down on states where it is legalized.

Im particularly concerned because it appears that the attorney general wants to cherry-pick, apparently on the basis of some kind of whim, which states rights he likes and which ones he doesnt like, Wyden said to the Huffington Post.My sense is increasingly there are some in Washington, D.C., who say they favor states rights only to do so if they think the state is right.

RepresentativeEarl Blumenauer (D-OR) introduced the House equivalent and his bill to allow veterans access to medical marijuana in states where it is legal has five other sponsors including Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI) and Rep. Dana Rohrbacher (R-CA).

Attorney GeneralControlled Substances ActDonald TrumpJeff SessionsJustin Amashmarijuana legalizationmarijuana reformrand paulRon Wydenstates' rights

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Rand Paul Cosponsors Bill to Allow Marijuana Businesses to Claim Tax Credits and Deductions - The Libertarian Republic

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On the Senate floor earlier this month, McCain accused Paul of "working for (Russian President) Vladimir Putin" when Paul objected to a resolution on allowing Montenegro to join NATO. Paul later fired back at McCain by saying the 80-year-old senator made "a really strong case for term limits." He added he was "past his prime" and "gotten a little bit unhinged."

Paul did not back down when asked about McCain on the Sean Hannity radio program.

"You know, I thought the old McCarthyism got kind of old," Paul said. "Calling people communists, calling people friends of Russia, I thought that was so 1950s. I really thought we're beyond that. I take it pretty seriously because when somebody in the Senate calls another senator basically a traitor to their country, you think that somebody ought to be rebuked for that?"

A McCain spokeswoman didn't immediately respond to Paul's comment.

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Sen. Rand Paul accuses John McCain of McCarthyism ...

Sen. Rand Paul speaks in Washington on Feb. 15, 2017. Bill ClarkCQ-Roll Call,Inc.

Paul is the junior U.S. Senator for Kentucky

President Donald Trump said in his inaugural address : Weve defended other nations borders, while refusing to defend our own.

I couldnt agree more.

Today, the question is: Will we add yet another commitment to defend yet another foreign country?

For decades, NATO has been an organization where the U.S. disproportionately spends our blood and treasure. The other NATO countries have largely hitched a ride to the U.S. train that subsidizes their defenses and allows them to direct their revenues to domestic pursuits.

Adding a country with fewer than 2,000 soldiers to NATO is not in our self-interest. There is no national security interest that an alliance with Montenegro will advance. If we invite Montenegro into NATO, it will be a one-way street with the U.S. committing to defend yet another country.

Advocates of allowing Montenegro to join NATO admit as much. The Senate hearing on admitting Montenegro to NATO was really just a Russia-bashing session. Not one word was said of how allowing Montenegro into NATO would advance our national security. Even the citizens of Montenegro are divided on entry into NATO. Fewer than 40% favor joining NATO and approximately the same percentage of Montenegrins oppose joining NATO.

Those who want to allow Montenegro into NATO believe that unless the whole world joins NATO, Russia will conquer the world. The truth is, as always, more complicated.

During the Cold War , the myth of Russian might was endlessly circulated here at home and the effect was the production of endless munitions and ever-expanding debt. The Cold War ended and the Soviet Union failed, not because our military might overcame them but because their economic system was fundamentally flawed and our economic system outlasted them.

Now, we are told we must fear the Russian Bear once again. But if you look closely you will see that Russian aggression around the world, particularly among the former Soviet satellites, is an attempt to mask a weak economy that runs the same risk of over-extension. Without question, Russia is an adversary, a country that ignores international norms and does not respect the territorial integrity of its neighbors. But Russia is weak because of corruption, oligarchy and human rights abuses. If Russia continues on this path, they may well encounter the same cataclysm that brought down the Soviet empire.

This debate today is not just about Montenegro but about NATO expansion in general. The same cheerleaders for admitting Montenegro also recklessly pushed to admit Ukraine and Georgia; if they were still members, we could right now be at war with Russia.

From the very beginning, our republic was founded with a deep suspicion of entangling alliances. Our founders wanted to do everything possible to avoid the chronic wars of Europe, where, for centuries, kings from one nation fought their brothers or cousins in other nations. The endless, meaningless wars of fratricide continued even into the 20th century.

Washington wrote that our true policy is to steer clear of permanent alliance with any portion of the foreign world. Jefferson famously wrote, peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none.

In modern times, such military heroes as President Eisenhower opposed intervention in Hungary, even when the naked aggression of the Soviets was appalling. Eisenhower likely had no real opportunity to militarily intervene before 200,000 Soviet troops with 4000 tanks rolled into Hungary. But at least part of the decision was a realpolitick decision that risking a nuclear confrontation with Russia did not justify war.

Fast forward to today. For 16 years the US has been at war in the Middle East. Our justified response to the attacks of 9/11 has dragged on and on. The vote Congress made to authorize military force against the planners and attackers of the World Trade Centers is now used to justify all military action anywhere around the world.

That vote is now used to justify war around the globe in dozens of countries. It is a lie and a disservice to our young men and women in uniform to have them fight under false pretenses. No active war involving the U.S. anywhere around the globe has been approved by Congress.

Our unrestricted, un-voted upon involvement in war everywhere informs my opposition to expanding NATO. Everyone likes to talk of NATOs Article 5 obligation to come to the defense of any NATO ally that is attacked. Many in Congress believe that Article 5 of the NATO alliance farms out the power to declare war to an international body.

David Fromkin put it this way: If it is now agreed by treaty that an attack on a... NATO ally is deemed an attack on the United states, then it can be argued that the President is empowered without Congressional authorization to send us war.

This is the crux of the debate: Congress abdicating its role in declaring war.

So, NATO. Should we expand it? Perhaps what we should do is make it clear that the NATO treaty is not a blind, open-ended promise to go to war anywhere and everywhere.

I continue to believe and will advocate for always having an official vote in Congress before we declare war.

More here:
Sen. Rand Paul: Montenegro Joining NATO Is Against US Interests - TIME

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Conservative news giant Matt Drudge had high praise for Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul after meeting him for an intriguing lunch this week.

Intriguing lunch in hill office of Americas best senator, Rand Paul, Drudge wrote on Twitter. Hes bold, brave and has somehow kept his heart in such a corrupt city. (RELATED: Should Be Sued For Fraud Matt Drudge Unloads On Republicans)

Rand Paul (Getty Images)

Matt Drudge has a phenomenal take on the news and is a leader who others in the business can only hope to emulate, Sergio Gor, a spokesman for Paul, told Business Insider. We enjoyed visiting with him, and we share a strong mutual admiration!

Drudge is known for living a rather secretive lifestyle and rarely gives interviews or attends public events.

His website, the influential Drudge Report, was one of the early promoters of Donald Trumps presidential campaign.

Follow Hasson on Twitter @PeterJHasson

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'America's Best Senator' -- Drudge Praises Rand Paul After 'Intriguing Lunch' - Daily Caller