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Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., brought multiple copies of President Trump's best-selling book The Art of the Deal to the House Freedom Caucus meeting Wednesday on the Obamacare replacement bill.

Both Paul and the conservative group of lawmakers have expressed their dissatisfaction with the GOP bill, the American Health Care Act, which they say doesn't go far enough to dismantle Obamacare.

Pictures posted to Twitter by journalists show Paul, before the meeting, wearing a tuxedo and holding a copy of the president's 1987 memoir. He brought several copies to the meeting.

The Washington Examiner asked Paul's communications director, Sergio Gor, why Paul brought the books.

"Senator Rand Paul admires President Trump's negotiation skills and thought it would be helpful for conservatives to brush up ahead of negotiating on the 'Obamacare Lite' legislation being offered by the House," Gor said.

"Obamacare Lite" is the name the Kentucky senator has given to the GOP bill, which Trump supports.

Also from the Washington Examiner

"The policy of strategic patience has ended," Tillerson said. "All options are on the table."

03/17/17 7:57 AM

Several members of the House Freedom Caucus walked out of the meeting with a copy of The Art of the Deal in tow.

Robert King contributed to this report.

Originally posted here:
Why Rand Paul brought 'The Art of the Deal' to a meeting about Obamacare repeal - Washington Examiner

Less than an hour after House Speaker Paul Ryan committed to changes to "improve" a bill to repeal and partially replace Obamacare, Rand Paul called for a "pause" to the ongoing effort.

The Kentucky senator and members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus on Wednesday reiterated their call to fully repeal Obamacare instead of passing what they deemed a partial repeal that keeps some of the law's taxes in place. The meeting late Wednesday comes less than an hour after House Speaker Paul Ryan admitted to "improve" and "refine" the American Health Care Act.

"I don't think there will be meaningful negotiations unless it becomes apparent that the House bill cannot pass," Paul said outside of a House office late Monday. "That is what I am hoping will happens because I do not think the House bill lowers premiums for anybody."

Paul added that now "I think we need to take a pause and as I think as [GOP leadership] count the votes they will have to decide whether they are going to negotiate."

Ryan and Paul have clashed over the past few weeks over the bill, which Paul claims doesn't fully repeal Obamacare and creates a new entitlement by offering up tax credits.

Freedom Caucus chairman Mark Meadows, R-N.C., said currently, the House doesn't have the votes to "modify" the current bill.

He later clarified that he is open to negotiations on the bill and that "we will negotiate in good faith."

Meadows added that based on a preliminary whip count of the House Freedom Caucus, the current version of the bill doesn't have the votes to pass the House.

Meadows declined to give a full number of how many people in the caucus would oppose the bill. The caucus is rumored to have between 35-40 members.

Also from the Washington Examiner

"The policy of strategic patience has ended," Tillerson said. "All options are on the table."

03/17/17 7:57 AM

The tacit admission from Ryan to improve the plan comes on the same day that Vice President Pence met with members of the Republican Study Committee, a group of more than 100 Republican lawmakers.

Pence didn't commit to any changes to the bill, including a desire to roll back the end of the Medicaid expansion to 2018 instead of 2020, but members walked away from the meeting confident their concerns were heard.

Currently, the bill goes before the House Budget Committee on Thursday. From there it will head to the House Rules Committee sometime next week and then move forward to a House floor vote.

See the original post:
Rand Paul calls for 'pause' to overhaul Obamacare repeal bill - Washington Examiner

Rachel Maddows much-touted reveal about Donald Trumps tax returns Tuesday night turned out to be a dud. The president apparently paid a lot of taxes in 2005 $38 million on $153 million at a tax rate of 25.3 percent. This was above the average tax rate for an individual making his same income which is 22.5 percent.

RELATED:Joe Scarborough has a theory about who is truly behind leaking the presidents tax returns

Fox News noted during an interview with Sen. Rand Paul on Wednesday that both President Obama and self-proclaimed socialist Bernie Sanders who obviously make much less money than Trump also pay a significantly lower rate. Obama paid 18.7 percent in 2015 and Sanders paid 13.5 percent in 2014.

Thats when Sen. Paul raised an interesting question.

Since Senator Sanders is such a good socialist, I think hed want to pay his fair share, Paul said, smiling. Im expecting news any day that hes gonna send a couple hundred thousand into the IRS so he can pay his fair share, he chuckled.

Sanders has a long record of demanding that the rich pay their fair share. In 2016, Fortune called Sanders the six-figure socialist, reporting, by dint of his success as an anti-capitalist politician, Sanders has managed to make a quite comfortable living.

While Sanders wouldnt describe himself as rich, Fortune noted, the scourge of the 1% has income that puts him in the top 3.8% of American households,according to CNBC.

RELATED:Rand Paul on Yemen: Are U.S. interventions doing more harm than good? Are we actually any safer?

Paul appeared on Fox News to discuss his opposition to the American Health Care Act being promoted by House Speaker Paul Ryan and that the president has also been warm to. Paul has called the plan ObamaCare-lite and referred to it as Trumpcare on Wednesday.

President Trump has called the Maddow tax story fake news.

Disclosure: I co-authored the 2011 book The Tea Party Goes to Washington with Sen. Rand Paul.

Originally posted here:
Rand Paul asks why good socialist Bernie Sanders won't pay the ... - Rare.us

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) talked with Bill Hemmer this morning about the release by MSNBC of a few pages of President Trump's 2005 tax return.

The tax documents showed Trump made $153 million in 2005 and paid $36.5 million in income taxes ($38 million in total taxes).

The big reveal was touted by Rachel Maddow on Twitter before her show, but the documents were far from a bombshell.

The president later blasted the report as "fake news," and Paul agreed, questioning why this leak was touted by the left.

And he added that Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) paid an effective tax rate of 13.5 percent a few years ago, far below Trump's 2005 rate of 25 percent.

"Since Senator Sanders is such a good socialist, I think he'd want to pay his fair share. I'm expecting news any day that he's gonna send a couple hundred thousand into the IRS so he can pay his fair share," said Paul.

Trump has steadfastly refused to release his full tax returns since beginning his presidential campaign, a departure from his modern-day White House predecessors.

Watch the full interview above, as Sen. Paul also discusses his opposition to "Trumpcare."

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Originally posted here:
Paul Calls Out Bernie Sanders' Tax Rate After Leak of Trump's 2005 Return - Fox News Insider

Sen. Rand Paul is replacing Sen. Ted Cruz as the key conservative troublemaker in Congress, The Hill is reporting.

The Kentucky Republican is fighting to get a group of House conservatives to vote against the GOP's healthcare reform legislation in hopes of convincing House Speaker Paul Ryan to open negotiations on the proposed bill.

"There's really no negotiating going on," Paul told The Hill. "Ryan is giving up nothing until he determines he doesn't have enough votes. If we get to the point where he doesn't have enough votes, then he'll negotiate."

While continuing to try to get some colleagues to oppose the bill, Paul has talked with President Donald Trump about his concerns, WDRB-TV in Kentucky noted.

"I've talked to him several times about how we make healthcare better in the country, and he says he's open to compromise," said Paul.

But first Paul is trying to show there is enough opposition to the bill to bring about a compromise. The Hill reported Paul is hoping to convince conservative Republicans on the House Budget Committee to join him in opposing the bill.

"If they pass it unanimously out of the Budget Committee, my guess is there's not going to be much compromise," Paul said.

And he is also urging House Republicans to vote against the rule that would bring the healthcare reform bill to the floor.

The move has brought about comparisons to Sen. Cruz, R-Texas,, who had pressured GOP leaders to hold-up a government funding bill in 2013 to protest the implementation of Obamacare.

"That's what Cruz did a few years ago," The Hill quoted on unnamed Republican senator.

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Sen. Rand Paul Stirring Up Trouble for GOP Healthcare Plan - Newsmax