Washington Examiner | Sen. Rand Paul on Trump's Wiretapping Claim: 'Everybody Has ... CNSNews.com If President Barack Obama wiretapped President Donald Trump, as Trump has claimed, the House intelligence committee expects the Justice Department to ... Rand Paul: Everyone's missing the story on Trump wiretapping ... |
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Sen. Rand Paul on Trump's Wiretapping Claim: 'Everybody Has ... - CNSNews.com
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) appears on CBS Face the Nation on March 12, 2017.
CBS News
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) hasnt been shy about his issues with the Republican health care overhaul plan -- and on Sunday, he said congressional conservatives are not going to vote for it.
Right now I think theres a charm offensive going on -- everybodys being nice to everybody because they want us to vote for this, but were not going to vote for it, Paul told CBS Face the Nation.
Paul said House Speaker Paul Ryan is pitching the health care bill as a binary choice between his overhaul plan and Obamacare as it currently stands -- and isnt interested in negotiating with the more conservative members of his party.
What were hearing is a binary choice is that its the Ryan plan or the status quo, he said. And what hes rammed through his committee is his, without any amendments, and thats the question. If we get what weve got from Ryan, Obamacare lite, he will not have the votes.
The biggest problem with the new GOP plan, Paul said, is that it doesnt fix the fundamental problem with Obamacare.
The one primary thing thats wrong with Obamacare thats visible to everybody is that premiums are rising through the roof, soaring in the individual market, Paul said. That will happen under the Ryan plan as well because they do nothing to fix the fundamental problem.
He repeatedly referred to the bill as Obamacare lite, saying it keeps the major components of Obamacare in place: it includes insurance subsidies, keeps certain taxes in place for one year, keeps the Cadillac tax in place indefinitely and still contains a penalty for people who dont get insurance.
Paul said the bill is currently in the pre-negotiation phase -- and that he believes President Donald Trump is open to negotiating.
I dont think the president is rigid in support of the House bill, I think hes open to seeing how we can get consensus, he said. And what Ive told the president is what Im telling everybody: were united on repeal, not so much on replacement. We do not agree with the fundamental three or four things that the ryan has: subsidies, taxes, mandates and insurance bailout.
Asked about Mr. Trumps claims that President Obama wiretapped Trump Tower during the 2016 campaign, Paul said he doesnt believe the Obama administration directly targeted Mr. Trump for wiretapping -- but that they may have picked up conversations of his associates while wiretapping foreign individuals.
I doubt that Trump was a target directly of any kind of eavesdropping but Im not saying it didnt happen, I think theres a very good chance it does, he said. I dont have any special information but the way it works is the FISA court ... wiretaps foreigners and then listens to Americans. Its a backdoor search of Americans.
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Rand Paul: Conservatives "not going to vote for" GOP health care plan - CBS News
A Republican governor who had to back down from his own vows to dismantle Obamacare in his state is siding with congressional conservatives like Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) who say GOP leadership is not going far enough in its bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
"Sen. Paul ... is not impressed with what has currently been offered," Gov. Matt Bevin (R-KY) told reporters Friday, according to the Associated Press. "Truth be told, I'm not either. So I'm with him."
Paul and other conservatives object to some of the replacement provisions, like refundable tax credits, that leadership has placed in the repeal bill, and have argued that Republicans should vote on a "clean" repeal akin to the 2015 bill they passed but which was vetoed by President Obama. The potential replacement plans can then be brought up separately, argue conservatives, including Paul, who introduced his own ACA alternative. The conservatives also want to speed up the sunset period of Medicaid expansion, which the leadership bill would begin to wind down in 2020.
It's a little awkward that Bevin is bashing the leadership's legislation, known as the American Health Care Act, given that Vice President Mike Pence is traveling to Kentucky this weekend to promote it (though Bevin did say that he will tell Pence "we support their effort to fix this problem," according to the AP.)
It's also a little ironic that Bevin is criticizing other Republicans for recalibrating their repeal promises once they are in power. Bevin kicked off his campaign for governor of Kentucky, a Medicaid expansion state, in 2015 with a promise to uproot Obamacare in the state in every way possible. Over the course of the race he softened that stance, particularly in regards to the Medicaid expansion, which had extended coverage to 400,000 Kentuckians. He ultimately sought to maintain the expansion and apply for a waiver with the Obama administration to change the program instead. For the first year of his term he and the administration were in a back and forth about whether he could impose work requirements, cost sharing and other obstacles for Medicaid recipients. The Trump administration will likely be more amenable to those requests.
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O'Care-Hating KY Guv Sides With Rand Paul In Fight With Leaders Over GOP Bill - TPM
Rand Paul contended that if we get what we have from Ryan, he will not have the votes in the Senate. | AP Photo
Sen. Rand Paul said Sunday that Republicans lack sufficient votes to even begin real negotiations on House leaders Obamacare replacement plan.
We are still in the pre-negotiation period, the Kentucky Republican told host John Dickerson on CBS Face the Nation.
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Paul, who has panned House Speaker Paul Ryans American Health Care Act as Obamacare-lite, outlined the pathway toward legitimate negotiations with fellow Republicans.
The real negotiation period comes and I promise this is the way it's going to work: We will get Obamacare-lite, Ryan's plan, unless there's enough conservatives in the House to say no, he explained. If there's enough to say no, when they start voting on the rules of debate, if they bring down the rule, if they stop him in the tracks, then a true negotiation begins. No negotiation right now counts, until they determine to have enough votes to stop Obamacare-lite.
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) said earlier Sunday that the current version of the House bill would not only fail in the Senate but could also cost House Republicans their majority in 2018. Ryan was more optimistic Sunday about the bills fate, insisting it could muster 51 votes in the Senate and dismissing objections from Republicans as efforts to negotiate.
But Paul contended that if we get what we have from Ryan, he will not have the votes in the Senate.
And we have to get to that point before true negotiations begin, he added.
Paul, whom President Donald Trump tried to nudge toward supporting the bill via Twitter, said Trump isnt firm in his support of the legislation and is open to seeing how he can reach a consensus.
And what I have told the president is what I am telling everybody: We are united on repeal, not so much on replacement. We do not agree with the fundamental three or four things that Ryan has: subsidies, taxes, mandates and insurance bailout, Paul said. That is Obamacare. We don't want that.
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Paul: GOP lacks votes to begin 'real' negotiations on health care - Politico
Sen. Rand PaulRand PaulSunday shows preview: Trump admin makes healthcare pitch Obstacles mount for tax reform Pence takes GOP healthcare pitch on the road MORE (R-Ky.) is pushing an alternative ObamaCare repeal bill amid growing opposition to the House GOP leadership's plan.
Paul introduced a bill known as the ObamaCare repeal bill mirrored off a 2015 bill that cleared the Senate along party lines.
The Republican Party is unified on Obamacare repeal, Paul said in a statement.We can honor our promise right away by passing the same language we acted on in the last Congress."
Paul's proposalwouldeffectively separate repeal of ObamaCare from replacement. The move could alienate a group ofcentrist Republicans who want, at aminimum, the key details of replacement nailed down before they vote to repeal.
"[After repeal]we can have a separate vote on replacement legislation that will deliver lower costs, better care, and greater access to the American people," he said.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) has introduced the legislation in the House.
The bill includes a staggered repeal of ObamaCare taxes, including a repeal of the Medical Device Tax in 2018 and the Cadillac Tax in 2020.
The legislation would also eliminateeligibility for ObamaCare's Medicaid expansion as of 2020 as well as the higherfederal matching rate included in the Affordable Care Act.
The move would likely draw opposition from agroup of moderate Senate Republicans who havethreatened they would voteagainst any bill that doesn't protect the Medicaid funding expansion in their home states.
1. House health-care bill can't pass Senate w/o major changes. To my friends in House: pause, start over. Get it right, don't get it fast.
"I support making structural improvements to the Medicaid program, but we must provide stability and certainty for individuals and families in Medicaid expansion programs and real flexibility for states," he said.
Republicans have a narrow path to passing ObamaCare repeal. They have a 52-seat majority, meaning they can only afford to lose two GOP senators and still pass repeal.
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Rand Paul introduces ObamaCare repeal alternative - The Hill (blog)