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Adam Beam, AP Published 12:29 p.m. CT March 10, 2017 | Updated 4 hours ago

Rand Paul(Photo: File photo)

FRANKFORT Duard Rutledge voted for Donald Trump and Rand Paul for the same reason: They're not afraid of a fight.

That's why the 66-year-old retired Toyota worker wasn't worried to see Kentucky's junior senator getting in the way of the Republican plan to replace Obama's health care law.

"When you get two thoroughbreds, they are high strung," he said. "But if you get them headed the right way they can both win the race."

Paul has been one of the most vocal Senate critics of the GOP plan to replace the federal Affordable Care Act, even before he knew what was in it. Last week, he hauled a copy machine outside of the room where House Republicans were writing the bill and asked for a copy, highlighting the secrecy surrounding the proposal. Since then, he has declared the plan dead, calling it "Obamacare lite."

Trump has pushed back, but without the blunt-force approach that has defined his politics. He dispatched top aide Kellyanne Conway to appear via phone on a Louisville radio station to express disappointment with Paul's comments. And while Trump has used his Twitter account to call Paul a "spoiled brat" in the past, he used his powerful social media presence this week to call Paul "my friend" and said he was sure he would "come along with the new and great health care program."

Paul won another six-year term last year and White House pressure is unlikely to make him reverse course.

On Saturday, Vice President Mike Pence is scheduled to appear in Louisville, possibly to advocate publicly for the replacement plan. For Terry Wright, a retired union worker in Louisville who voted for Trump, that's all he needs to hear.

"I trust him (Trump) more than I would trust anybody else," he said, adding he did not vote for Paul in the U.S. Senate election.

After years of Democratic dominance, Kentucky voters are becoming accustomed to Republican rule and the infighting that can come with it. Whether it's U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell and Matt Bevin the two fierce primary foes turned allies after Bevin won the 2015 governor's race or Trump and Paul's vicious barbs during the GOP presidential primaries, many conservative voters see conflict as a healthy part of politics.

"Whenever we get into this kinder, gentler, 'Well I'm not going to say that because it will make them mad,' that's how we get in trouble," said Alan Halsey, a 31-year-old publisher of The Swift Creek Courier and owner of a general store who voted for Trump and Paul. "We need people that will stand. And butting heads is part of standing."

The Trump-Paul spat is more complicated for Phyllis Vincent, a 70-year-old retired teacher in Frankfort who is running to be the chairwoman of her county Republican party. She wants to do away with Affordable Care Act, but she acknowledges it will be difficult to repeal it "root and branch" now that nearly half a million people in the state depend on it for health coverage.

"Part of me is a bit disappointed (Trump) is not pushing any harder than what he's doing," she said. But she also understands how many people have health care, and "we can't just pull the rug out from under them overnight."

The friction occurs against a backdrop of intense debate over the success or failure of the Affordable Care Act in Kentucky, where it has been touted as a success story by Democrats and some independent studies.

When the original roll-out of health care was plagued by technical problems, Kentucky's state-run exchange, dubbed kynect, ran smoothly. The exchange, combined with an expansion of the state's Medicaid program, brought health care coverage to nearly 500,000 people, lowering the state's uninsured rate from more than 20 percent to 7.5 percent.

But the program has cost taxpayers an extra $257 million in the state's most recent spending plan, and the current governor has called the program a disaster and moved to overhaul it.

Read or Share this story: http://www.thegleaner.com/story/news/2017/03/10/kentuckys-rand-paul-obstacle-trumps-health-plan/99007870/

Excerpt from:
Kentucky's Rand Paul an obstacle to Trump's health plan - The Gleaner

In a hearing for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) offered a much-needed critique of the interventionist foreign policy pursued by the bipartisan establishmentin Washington for the better part of two decades.

Paul used U.S. intervention in Yemen a war many Americans do not even know our government is fighting as the launching pad for his argument. Central to Pauls comments, posed as a question to Dr. Dafna H. Rand of the National Defense University, who was testifying, is the issue of whether the United States present foreign policy is dictated more by what wecan do than what weshould do.

RELATED:President Trump is amping up Barack Obamas worst Middle East war

The United States has the technical ability to kill anyone anywhere anytime, Paul began. Yet, he continued, just because we can doesnt mean we should, and I think we dont have enough discussion about the practical ramifications of whether or not we kill more terrorists than we create. He continued:

I think Yemen is a perfect example of this. Were supplying the Saudis with bombs, refueling the planes, picking the targets. I assume that we didnt pick the target of a funeral procession, but we wounded 500 people and 140 people I say we; the Saudis did it, but with our armaments. You think that Yemenis dont know where the bombs are coming from?

We recently had a raid and I dont blame our soldiers. I mean, I have members of my family who actively serve. They do what theyre told. But were the policymakers. I mean, we sent them into Yemen. Ive still not been told while we went to Yemen. Someones got to make a decision: Did we in killing a, you know, a few of the al Qaeda [members] in that village was that worth the fact that we had to kill women and children, or women and children were inadvertently killed in that, including an American citizen?

I guess my question to Dr. Rand is: Do you think were adequately weighing whether were creating more terrorists than we kill, whether were doing more good than we are doing harm, whether we are safer or more risk? I think your testimony was at least reasoned in the sense that [it asked] will we be better off. Yes, we can take a new port in Yemen. We can do anything. But in the end, will we be safer, better off if we continue the way were continuing?

In her response to Paul, Rand largely agreed with his point, noting that some military actions may be lawful without being wise.

Shes right, but since Congress has not authorized U.S. military action in Yemen at all, Id suggest it is unlawful specifically, unconstitutional too. Though the executive branch has, under Presidents Obama and Trump alike, claimed authority to intervene in Yemen under the Authorization for Use of Military Force passed in the wake of 9/11, the Yemeni civil war has nothing to do with 9/11; and al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the branch of al Qaeda in Yemen, did not exist until eight years after 9/11.

RELATED:Rand Paul can save health care reform

Unless Congress magically knew the future back in 2001 and Im going to go out on a limb here and say that is not what happened this war is illegal and unwise at once.

It is also mostly unquestioned in Washington, which is why Pauls questions here are so important. This willingness to ask questions about our foreign policy that others wont is why, whatever our differences, Im glad to see Paul back in the Senate for at least six more years.

More:
Rand Paul on Yemen: Are US interventions doing more harm than good? Are we actually any safer? - Rare.us

Washington Post

Rand Paul on House GOP health-care proposal: 'Sounds a lot like Obamacare Lite' Washington Post March 7, 2017 12:39 PM EST - A day after House Republicans released a plan to supplant the Affordable Care Act, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) outlined the issues he has with their proposal, indicating it might be unconstitutional. (Alice Li, Jayne Orenstein ...

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Rand Paul on House GOP health-care proposal: 'Sounds a lot like Obamacare Lite' - Washington Post

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., slammed House Republicans' healthcare bill in an interview with Fox News' "Tucker Carlson Tonight" Thursday, vowing the measure would be "dead on arrival" in the Senate.

"It keeps the ObamaCare taxes for a year," Paul told host Ed Henry. "Then [it] keeps the Cadillac tax forever; [it] keeps the ObamaCare subsidies, but renames them tax credits; [it] keeps the individual mandate, but you dont pay the government the penalty, youve got to pay the insurance company ... That's the very definition of ObamaCare Lite."

Paul, a licensed opthamologist, touted his own health care plan, which he said was based on ideas sketched out by current Health and Human Services secretary Tom Price.

"What you replace it with are market reforms," Paul said. "You expand health savings accounts, and then you expand health care associations, these associations like co-ops or buying pools."

When Henry questioned Paul over whether his plan would get the necessary 60 votes in the Senate, Paul answered, "I can't be blamed if somebody won't vote for something."

Paul called for ObamaCare to be repealed before any work begins on a replacement, telling Henry that House Republicans "might as well just start over ... Were going to have to separate repeal from replace."

You wont meet anybody who dislikes ObamaCare more than me," Paul said. "I have lived ObamaCare. It is a disaster. I have voted to repeal it and I will vote again, but I will not vote for ObamaCare Lite stuck on the repeal bill."

Here is the original post:
Rand Paul: House GOP's Obamacare replacement is 'dead on arrival' - Fox News

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Well continue our discussion of House Speaker Paul Ryans Obamacare replacement bill, which is coming under intense criticism from all quarters and has been dubbed Ryancare or Obamacare-Lite by some critics.

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Well hear from Senator Rand Paul (R-KY), who has been leading the charge against Obamacare-Lite.

Mississippi state senator Chris McDaniel will discuss his possible senate run in 2018, spurred on by the hapless way the Republican establishment is handling the repeal and replacement of Obamacare.

Wisconsin businessman and former Ryan challenger Paul Nehlen will weigh in on Speaker Ryans healthcare bill.

Well also hear from Congressman Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) on the healthcare debate as well as the CIA WikiLeaks investigation.

Senator David Perdue (R-GA) will discuss President Trumps first 100 days and the challenges of reforming the Washington bureaucracy.

Former UN ambassador John Bolton will discuss the latest national security news, including the latest challenge to President Trumps new executive order on immigration and travel from six terror-prone countries.

Live from London, Rome, and Jerusalem, Breitbart correspondents will provide updates on the latest international news.

Breitbart News Daily is the first live, conservative radio enterprise to air seven days a week. SiriusXM Vice President for news and talk Dave Gorab called the show the conservative news show of record.

Follow Breitbart News on Twitter for live updates during the show. Listeners may call into the show at: 866-957-2874.

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Breitbart News Daily: Rand Paul on Ryancare - Breitbart News