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House Speaker Paul Ryan on Wednesday accused Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul of making "an insulting remark to the president" over the American Health Care Act's rollout this month.

Earlier Wednesday, Paul, a Republican, told CNN that Ryan, also a Republican, was selling Trump "a bill of goods that he didn't explain to the president that the grassroots doesn't want."

"Frankly, I think that is kind of an insulting remark to the president as if he doesn't know what he's doing or something. It makes it look like I find that kind of puzzling number one," Ryan told CNN anchor Jake Tapper on Wednesday afternoon. "Number two, this plan the one we're passing, it's the one we ran on all of 2016. It is based upon the Tom Price bill which was seen as the conservative gold standard."

Four House committees are currently looking at revisions to the Obamacare replacement bill, but House GOP leadership is happy with the bill's frame. Paul would like to see Medicaid flexibility improved through the mark-up process.

Link:
Paul Ryan accuses Rand Paul of 'insulting remark to the president' - Washington Examiner

"I think that Paul Ryan's selling him a bill of goods that he didn't explain to the President, and the grassroots doesn't want what Paul Ryan is selling," the Kentucky Republican told CNN.

Paul was one of several lawmakers who took the stage in 20-degree weather outside of the Capitol, rallying conservatives to stand firm against the Republicans' health care bill that's making its way through the House. Conservatives feel that the bill doesn't go far enough in repealing Obamacare.

He urged voters to call other conservative members of the Freedom Caucus and urge them to "bring down the Paul Ryan plan," something he later called "Ryancare" to reporters.

"This is the very beginning of the battle, not the end of the battle," Paul said at the rally, which was hosted by the conservative group Freedomworks.

"But I promise you they will not negotiate until they discover they don't have our votes," he added. "But more importantly, they need to discover they do not have your votes."

Hitting back, Ryan told CNN's Jake Tapper on "The Lead" that he finds Paul's remarks "kind of puzzling," arguing that Republicans campaigned on the health care bill last year, and he took issue with Paul's argument that the "grassroots doesn't want" it.

"Frankly I think that's kind of an insulting remark to the President -- as if he doesn't know what he's doing," Ryan said.

The speaker said the White House is working "hand in glove" with the Republican plan.

"We think this is a smarter way to go," Ryan told Tapper. "The alternative is the status quo, and the status quo is in the middle of a collapse."

But Paul who was among a group of conservative senators that went to the White House on Tuesday -- argued that Trump "remains open to change."

It's House Republican leadership, he said, who remain inflexible and have "dug their heels in."

"They are not going to compromise," he told CNN. "So the only way that we are going to get to a compromise where they listen to the grassroots that wants complete repeal, the only way we got to that compromise is that we have to demonstrate to the House leadership that we have the votes to stop them."

The President hits the road Wednesday night with a campaign-style rally in Nashville where he's expected to try to sell the bill.

Next week he's slated to do the same in Louisville. Asked how he feels about the president targeting Paul's home state of Kentucky, Paul said he's "happy to have him" and that he and the president agree on the "repeal part" of Obamacare, but they're "still apart somewhat on replacement."

CNN's Devin Garbitt contributed to this story.

Read more from the original source:
Rand Paul says Paul Ryan selling 'bill of goods' to Trump - CNN

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