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Sen. Rand Paul. Scott Olson/Getty Images

Sen. Rand Paul, my former boss, made me proud this week. He has become a one man wrecking crew in the Senate Republican leaderships attempt to bail out Obamacare with a bill that neither repeals nor replaces President Obamas destructive health care law.

Sen. Paul wrote earlier this week in Breitbart about the bill, which is titled the Better Care Reconciliation Act: I miss the old days, when Republicans stood for repealing Obamacare. He went on to make the case that now too many Republicans are falling all over themselves to stuff hundreds of billions of taxpayers dollars into a bill that doesnt repeal Obamacare and feeds Big Insurance a huge bailout. Obamacare regulations? Still here. Taxes? Many still in place, totaling hundreds of billions of dollars. Paul points out the many flaws and proves this Republican bill doesnt replace a destructive health care law thats pushing America toward a single-payer health care socialist system.

Bloomberg News describes the bailout provision in the bill: The $50 billion market-stability fund is intended to protect insurers that cover large numbers of customers with more costly health problems from having to raise their premiums for the next four years. This provision is nearly identical to the Obamacare risk corridors provision that many Republicans rightly called a bailout. Yet, now its okay because Republicans are the ones proposing a bailout. The stated goal of the fund is to incentivize insurers to take on high-cost enrollees. In fact, this direct subsidy to insurance companies is better termed a massive bailout that will benefit insurance companiesnot average Americans.

This is reminiscent of a Bush era fumble by the Republican Party in 2008 when they fully supported a bailout of Wall Street with the now infamous Troubled Assets Relieve Program (TARP). Many consider the TARP bill the spark that created the Tea Party and helped get members like Sens. Paul, Mike Lee and Ron Johnson into the Senate and Congressmen like Thomas Massie and Justin Amash into the House. The current health care bill may cause the Republican Partys liberty minded base to respond with Tea Party-like activism and the recruitment of new Republican candidates who keep the promise of a full repeal of Obamacare.

The so called Troubled Assets Relieve Program (TARP) was a massive $450 billion bailout of investors during the subprime mortgage crisis. The Bush administration loaned billions of dollars to our nations biggest banks and investment companies. The goal was for the Federal Reserve to stabilize markets, but in January 2009 the New York Times reported, An overwhelming majority saw the bailout program as a no-strings-attached windfall that could be used to pay down debt, acquire other businesses or invest for the future. The same will happen with insurance companies. They will not use the money to help keep high-risk people on plans; they will use it as if it is a windfall with few strings attached.

Sen. Paul followed up his Breitbart piece with another in the Washington Examiner.In this piece,he argued that the Senate version of the Republican health care reform bill was the embodiment of cronyism. Paul wrote, I remember a lot of outrage about two things when I first ran for office: Obamacare and the bank bailouts. Unfortunately, the Senate health care bill combines the worst of those twothis time, were bailing out the big insurance companies. Why? Partly because of the crony capitalism that pervades the culture in the swamps of Washington. Sen. Paul is spot on. Its outrageous that more conservatives in the Senate arent joining Pauls crusade against Obamacare-lite.

In June, health care expert Mike Cannon of the Cato Institute made the case in the New York Postthat this bill has put off cuts of some Obamacare spending in a way that makes it unlikely that the cuts will ever happen. Cannon wrote, The Senate bill wouldnt even repeal the parts of Obamacare Republicans claim it would. On paper, it would repeal Obamacares expansion of Medicaidbut not until 2024. There will be three federal election cycles, three new Congresses, and potentially a brand new president between now and then. It is almost certain Democrats will control at least one of those Congresses and could then rescind this repeal as if it never happened. Even this bills cuts are illusory and unlikely to ever happen.

Sen. Paul, thank you for being the one member of the Senate who is standing up against cronyism and a bill that fails to repeal and replace Obamacare.

Brian Darling is former Sr. Communications Director and Counsel for Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.). He can be followed on Twitter @BrianHDarling

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Rand Paul on Obamacare-lite Bill: It's a Bailout for Insurance Companies - Observer

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Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said on "Fox & Friends" this morning that he remains a "no" vote on the Senate health care bill because it will not deliver on his promise to repeal ObamaCare.

Brian Kilmeade asked Paul why - if the bill is an improvement on ObamaCare - he won't support it and then seek to make it better in the coming years.

"I don't know that this is better than ObamaCare," he responded, adding that the "fundamental flaw" of the Affordable Care Act would remain in place.

He said the bill will create a $200 billion "bailout superfund" for insurers which will "subsidize the death spiral" instead of fixing it.

Paul argued that the fundamental flaw of ObamaCare was that young, healthy people are not buying insurance, knowing they can get coverage in the event they become sick.

"We have these regulations that make it really expensive for young, healthy people. ... I can't vote for something that doesn't repeal ObamaCare and doesn't fix it," said Paul.

A revised version of the Senate bill is being released today, but it still appears short of the 50 votes it needs to pass.

Paul said the bill contains an "insurance stabilization fund," which he sees as a bailout provision for companies that make $15 billion a year and "already have their hands all over this bill."

He proposed splitting the effort into two bills, first repealing ObamaCare and then debating a better option.

Watch the interview above.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) - a supporter of the bill - responded to Paul's criticism later in the show.

He said that Paul's proposals would not garner nearly enough support to pass in the Senate, leaving ObamaCare in place.

Watch the interview below.

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Rand Paul Not Sure Senate Health Care Bill Is Better Than ...

Senator Mark Warner, D-Virginia, participates in a hearing to Senate Intelligence Committee on Russia's intelligence activities, at Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, DC on January 10, 2017.

Riccardo Savi

President Trump's troubles with questions about his campaign's ties to Russia intensified this week with the release of emails showing his son, Donald Trump Jr., arranging a meeting with a Russian government attorney last year in the hope of obtaining incriminating information on Hillary Clinton. Meanwhile, health care reform remains stalled in the Senate, its fate increasingly uncertain, and President Trump headed to France for Bastille Day.

This Sunday on Face the Nation, we'll bring you the latest news and analysis on all that and more.

We'll talk with Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, about the latest developments in the scandal involving Russian involvement in the election, and possible collusion with Mr. Trump's campaign. What did he make of Donald Trump Jr.'s emails? And how is his committee proceeding with its investigation alongside the special counsel's probe?

We'll also talk with Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, a conservative who's pushing Senate Republican leaders for a fuller repeal of Obamacare in their health care reform proposal. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says he may have to work with Democrats to amend Obamacare if Republicans can't agree on a replacement. Would Senator Paul join that effort?

We'll hear from Jay Sekulow, a member of President Trump's legal team, on how the president and the administration are responding to Donald Trump Jr.'s explosive emails and the broader investigation. How might Trump Jr.'s problems affect the president? And what is the strategy for Trump's legal team going forward?

As always, we'll hear from an expert political panel to help us break down the busy news week. This Sunday, we'll be joined by USA Today Washington Bureau Chief Susan Page, The Atlantic Editor in Chief Jeffrey Goldberg, The Washington Post's Ed O'Keefe, and National Review's Ramesh Ponnuru.

And finally, for a bit of a respite from politics, we'll talk with Time Magazine senior writer and science editor Jeffrey Kluger about his new book, "Apollo 8," which chronicles the NASA mission in 1968 that heartened a weary nation and provided a glimpse of future possibilities in space.

It's going to be an exciting broadcast, so make sure you tune in! Check your local listings for airtimes.

2017 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Sunday: Mark Warner, Rand Paul, and Jay Sekulow - CBS News

Sacramento Bee

Pence: The President And I Really Like Sen. Rand Paul A Man Of Principle And Conviction The Liberty Conservative Now let me say from my heart, the President and I really like Senator Rand Paul, Pence said. I've known him for a lot of years. He's a man of principle and conviction. Senator Rand Paul is a great conservative and a great legislator, and he does ... Pence pitches governors on ObamaCare repeal billThe Hill Pence defends health care reform in Lexington speechWLKY Louisville all 47 news articles »

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Pence: The President And I Really Like Sen. Rand Paul A Man Of Principle And Conviction - The Liberty Conservative

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky.,told Newsmax TV on Thursday he remains dead set against the newly tweaked Senate healthcare bill and warned Republicans they will be clobbered with blame when their watered down version of the failing Affordable Care Act similarly begins to collapse.

"I don't think some miracle happens with this Republican plan," Paul, a Kentucky Republican, said on "Newsmax Now" with Bill Tucker. "The main thing that happens is now the . . . dysfunctional part of the marketplace is going to be blamed on Republicans.

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"The Republican bill doesn't cure the death spiral [of the Affordable Care Act]. It says, 'oh, we'll just subsidize it. We know it's still going to happen, so what we'll do is we'll take $200 billion of taxpayer money and we'll give it to the insurance companies and say, please lower your rates.'

"But if that's the Republican philosophy, we might as well be for a new car stabilization fund, so we can lower the price of cars, or a new iPhone stabilization fund, or a college stabilization fund."

Paul an eye doctor and member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, and Labor who has long opposed anything other than a full and unconditional repeal of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) told Tucker the Senate's Better Care Reconciliation Act is a bust.

"I think Obamacare is a disaster," he said. "I think it's in a death spiral, premiums have gone through the roof, but then I look at this bill, and it's just not repeal, it keeps over half of the Obamacare taxes, it keeps most of the Obamacare regulations, it keeps most of the Obamacare subsidies.

"And it has a nearly $200 billion insurance bailout superfund, and I want to know when it became the Republican position to be for a bailout of a multi-billion-dollar private industry? I'm just not for that. I'm not for giving a penny of taxpayer money to a billion-dollar insurance industry."

Paul said he and President Donald Trump have had several conversations about the future of American healthcare and both believe there should be two separate bills.

"Have a clean repeal bill, this would be a repeal of Obamacare," Paul said. "We repeal taxes, regulations, you name it. We repeal what Obamacare was and the disaster that it is.

"And then if there are moderate Republicans or let's just call them for what they are, big government Republicans if they insist on more federal spending on bailing out the insurance companies or more federal spending on opioids, tell them to put it in a big spending bill the Democrats like.

"And they can work with the Democrats on it. Then let's be honest about this that some of us are for repeal and some are for replacing one big government program with another big government program."

The latest GOP plan, released Thursday, would provide an additional $70 billion in funding to stabilize insurance exchanges over 10 years in an effort to win over GOP holdouts who have kept the legislation in limbo. Past attempts to bring the Senate bill to a vote because of continued GOP opposition from some states.

It throws out earlier plans to repeal three Obamacare taxes on the wealthy and includes a provision allowing people to use health savings accounts to pay insurance premiums. Because of the GOP's 52-48 Senate majority, Republican leaders can lose no more than two votes and some GOP lawmakers continue to oppose the remake.

Paul said one of the great dishonesties of the Affordable Care Act is that it expanded Medicaid in many states and the federal government foots the bill. Medicaid is a social healthcare program for those with limited resources who are unable to pay for healthcare.

"The problem is the federal government doesn't have enough to pay for the existing Medicaid before you expand it. This year the federal government will be $500 billion short. Next year we're estimated to be $1 trillion short," he said.

"So when you say, oh the federal government is going to pay for Medicaid, it is dishonest and that was one of the fundamental dishonesties of Obamacare. That kind of continues under the Republican plan. They actually leave the Medicaid expansion in place.

"But eventually over about a seven-year period they shift back to letting the states pay a portion of Medicaid the way it typically is and that makes it at least a little bit more honest accounting, but we've got to wait seven or eight years to get there."

Asked how Medicare can be saved, Paul responded:

"When you look at all of the spending, two-thirds of the spending is entitlements," he said. "Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, and those programs occupy two-thirds of the spending.

"But if you add up how much they are in debt already, Medicare is said to be somewhere between $35 and $50 trillion in the hole, Social Security is said to be $7 trillion in the hole. Medicaid is perpetually in the hole because there is no specific funding source, no specific tax for Medicaid. Same with food stamps.

"So all of these things are spending more than comes in, and we were having difficulty paying for them before we got to Obamacare. There's no money for the exemption of any of the things that Obamacare wants the government to do."

The Republican plan errantly keeps a lot of those money drains, he said.

"We keep the regulations of Obamacare, most of them, we keep the subsidies, most of them, we keep most of the taxes, and we create a brand-new entitlement to bailout funds for the insurance companies," Paul said. "I wonder how anybody could seriously call it repeal.

"I've been in medicine for 20 years, and even before Obamacare people were unhappy with insurance companies and unhappy with the cost of insurance, unhappy with how healthcare was being delivered, and then they got even more unhappy after Obamacare."

That is why it is a major mistake for Republicans to "want to own this thing," he added.

"They're not going to fix the fundamental flaw of Obamacare, and that flaw is that if you tell people they can buy insurance after they get sick, they will," he said.

"And if you tell young, healthy people that they have to have 10, 15 mandates on the insurance that makes the insurance expensive, and they also know they can buy insurance after they get sick, guess what? Young people won't buy insurance, and they'll wait until they get sick. . . . I hope we start over and do a clean repeal."

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Sen. Rand Paul to Newsmax: Senate Pushing Obamacare Bailout