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The estimate from the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget includes the repeal's effect on the economy. Video provided by Newsy Newslook

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky.(Photo: Pablo Martinez Monsivais, AP)

WASHINGTON Sen. Rand Paul voted Wednesday against the first step in repealing the Affordable Care Act because the underlying budget proposal increases the federal debt over 10 years.

Paul, a Kentucky Republican with a history of casting protest votes, was the only GOP senator opposed. After the 51-48 vote in the Senate, the budget resolution, which includes the mechanisms to start repealing the 2010 health care law in addition to general spending levels for the federal government over the next decade, will be debated for the next week.

Paul announced his opposition earlier in the day on MSNBC.

I wont vote for a terrible budget just to repeal Obamacare, Paul said.

Pauls opposition illustrates that even strong Republican critics of the Affordable Care Act have concerns over how to kill it without doing damage to the health insurance market, consumers and the larger American economy.

The proposed Republican budget a key piece to the repeal effort increases the federal debt by more than $9trillion over 10 years, Paul said.

If I have to weigh the two problems, I actually think the debt is a more important problem than Obamacare, Paul said.

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Paul is so far the lone Republican dissenter in the Senate, but some of his fellow deficit hawks are also protesting the projected debt increase.

Sens. Mike Lee of Utah, Marco Rubio of Florida and Ted Cruz of Texas said they supported the 2017 budget resolution in order to repeal the Affordable Care Act, but they want the spending levels to be revisited in the 2018 budget.

Our votes in favor of the Obamacare Repeal Resolution do not indicate in any way our support for the revenue, and deficit numbers therein, nor for the use of those numbers as the basis for future federal budgets, they wrote to Republican leaders.

Paul is also part of a growing Republican sentiment to have an alternative health insurance plan ready to immediately replace the repealed law.

If they dont, Obamacare continues to unravel and there are many health care experts and analysts predicting bankruptcy for insurance companies and a massive insurance company bailout within six months of repeal, Paul said.

If the Affordable Care Acts mandate for individuals to buy health insurance is repealed, for example, there will not be enough healthy people buying insurance to keep the plans solvent.

It will be a huge mistake for Republicans if we dont vote for a replacement the same day as the repeal, Paul said.

Paul took to the Senate floor Wednesday afternoon to defend his vote and criticize the GOP for taking control of the House, Senate and White House and proposing a budget that doesn't dramatically cut federal spending.

"It's not a popular stand that I take today," Paul said. "The debt threatens the very foundation of our country."

Paul said he plans to introduce his own budget proposal, as in past years, that balances within five years.

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Sen. Rand Paul using Obamacare repeal to protest debt

One day after pledging to vote against the GOPs budget resolution, which would begin the process of breaking down the Affordable Care Act, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) gathered 24 members of the House Freedom Caucus to talk through possible opposition strategies.

In theory, if the 24 held together, the budget would fail in the House. In reality, as they walked in and out of Room 2203 of the Rayburn Building, few of the Houses staunch conservatives were ready to pull the trigger.

I just came to understand all the different ideas about where we go next, said Rep. David Schweikert (R-Ariz.), who said he would probably vote for the budget resolution.

We havent made a decision whether to support it or not support it, said Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), the new chairman of the Freedom Caucus.

Im not staking out a position on the budget just yet, Rep. Brian Babin (R-Tex.) said.

The collective shrug provided the latest evidence that Pauls protest of the resolution would be a familiar, lonely one. His floor speech attacking the budget resolution for making no attempts at deficit reduction it actually projects a $9.7 trillion increase in the debt by 2026 was preempted by statements from Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) pledging to vote for the resolution.

Thursdays meeting between Paul and House conservatives was similarly drained free of drama.Talking to reporters outside, Paul largely conceded that conservatives would not defeat the budget resolution. His argument, instead, was that a larger no vote, fully explained by the holdouts, would give them more bargaining power as the Republican agenda marched ahead.

I wanted to make sure that conservatives in the House knew that, together, we can have impact and influence on what the budget will be, Paul said. I heard one person say that, Well, well vote for this now, but we wont in four months. My point is that the Republican leadership will come back and say, You already voted for it once, why not vote for it a second time? Theres a danger in being on record for $9.7 trillion in debt.

That position has made Paul one of very few Republicans still talking about the debt, a focus of Republican ire throughout the Obama years, as a national crisis worth building legislation around. During his presidential campaign, which ended after the 2016 Iowa caucuses, Paul made a number of attempts to draw attention to the national debt and to promote his annual plans to balance the budget with steep spending cuts. Republican voters flocked instead to Donald Trump, who either ignored the debt or said that new economic growth would start chipping away at it.

Months later, most of the Freedom Caucus 17 members voted against the GOPs 2016 budget on debt-reduction grounds.The new budget resolution makes even fewer concessionsto debt reduction.

We want to keep in mind the overall picture, both the deficit and how tired people are Obamacare, said Rep. Randy Weber (R-Tex.). I do think theres a danger of the Republicans actually owning this.

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Rand Paul huddles with Freedom Caucus but finds little ...

They were the toast of the 2010 tea party movement, but Donald Trumps election has left Sens. Marco Rubio, Rand Paul and Mike Lee searching for new roles as they begin their second terms in office.

Each of the three climbed onto the national stage as new kids on the block, ousting Republican establishment favorites and becoming the face of the anti-Washington tidal wave that swept the elections that year.

But Mr. Trump has outflanked them and everyone else in the anti-Washington sweepstakes in 2016, defeating both Kentuckys Mr. Paul and Floridas Mr. Rubio in this years Republican presidential primary, and leaving them to rebuild their careers as Capitol Hill players.

Whether they and Mr. Lee, a libertarian-leaning conservative from Utah who remained at odds with Mr. Trump throughout the campaign, become congressional allies of the incoming president or continued thorns in his side remains to be seen though tea party leaders say theres a critical role for them to play in keeping the unpredictable Mr. Trump on track.

These guys are going to the enforcers, said Steve Lonegan, a tea party activist. They can help force the Republican Party to live up to its promises.

Others are more skeptical about how much sway the 2010 tea party darlings will have on a Capitol Hill many voters consider out of touch.

Mike Lee, Ted Cruz and Rand Paul are going to make some great speeches, but remember, these individual legislators, even the best of them, are operating as a small piece of a large body, and that large body doesnt really care about the country, said Mark Meckler, president of Citizens for Self-Governance and co-founder of Tea Party Patriots.

Mr. Meckler said that while Mr. Trump represents a break in the White House, Congress is still controlled by Republicans who failed to overturn any of President Obamas agenda.

This is the same Congress that we had before this election, with the same steely eyed leadership that defunded Obamacare oh wait, they didnt do that. This is the same steely eyed leadership that prevented Obama from funding executive [immigration] amnesty oh wait, they didnt do that, he said. Everybody thinks things are going to be so incredible because Trump is going to be in office. I would argue we dont know.

Mr. Rubio wasnt supposed to be in Washington. When he ran for the presidential nomination, he signaled he was done with the Senate, saying he found the glacial pace of the place frustrating. But after losing to Mr. Trump, and under pressure from GOP party leaders, he had a rethink and jumped back into the race for his seat, cruising to an easy victory for a second term.

Along the way, however, he shed some of the tea party aura hed built in 2010, including backing a bipartisan immigration overhaul bill and supporting deficit spending to combat the Zika virus.

Mr. Rubio has signaled that he wants to put his imprint on world affairs and has warned that he has serious concerns about Mr. Trumps selection of ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson for secretary of state, who has had a business relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Being a friend of Vladimir is not an attribute I am hoping for from a #SecretaryOfState, Mr. Rubio, who sits on the Foreign Relations Committee that will handle the confirmation hearing, said on Twitter this month.

Mr. Paul had kept open the option of running again for his Senate seat should his presidential bid flame out, which it did after some acrimonious exchanges with Mr. Trump in the primaries.

He has signaled that hell take on the role of referee in a Trump administration, pushing the new president to stay true to his campaign warnings against military adventurism, even threatening to join Democrats in filibustering Cabinet nominees who go against that message.

The Kentucky Republican also has made it clear that he will push Congress to hold an up-or-down vote on a new authorization for waging the war against Islamic State the current authorization dates back to the 9/11 attacks and for Mr. Trump to follow through on his promise to slice taxes.

One of the things I liked about Donald Trumps campaign was that he ran on a big, bold tax plan, that cut taxes for every American, and it was NOT revenue neutral. The government would get less money and every American would keep more, Mr. Paul said in an op-ed on Breitbart.com.

For his part, Mr. Lee spent 90 minutes this month with Mr. Trump discussing their shared desire to repeal the Affordable Care Act and on legislation to reduce federal regulations. But they did not broach the topic of Mr. Lee serving on the U.S. Supreme Court a possibility some conservatives are lobbying for.

Tea party leaders said, in the best scenario, their three champions from the 2010 election will find ways to work together with their new party leader to cut the size of government.

We gave Republicans the House in 2010 and Senate in 2014, and now they have the White House, so there is really no excuse not to start imposing some fiscal sanity on America, said Judson Phillips, founder of Tea Party Nation. I see Rand Paul, Mike Lee and Marco Rubio not necessarily being a check, but being partners with Donald Trump.

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Senator Rand Paul is not happy with some of the cabinet picks by president-elect Donald Trump. So much so that he took to Twitter today to deliver an airing of grievances.

Paul tweeted that he was celebrating Festivus, a reference to an episode of the sitcom Seinfeld, during which a non-commercial Christmas is celebrated by the characters in December 23rd. The airing of grievances in the episode is an opportunity for the characters to lash out at each other and everything around them that has annoyed or frustrated them for the past year.

Paul began his Twitter storm by poking fun at fake news, stating that Festivus is real, and adding that The Onion is more accurate than a Brian Williams report:

Paul then turned to Trumps cabinet picks, referencing Infowars own Alex Jones to make a point:

Paul followed up on his Bilderberger jibe by referencing billionaire Paypal owner Peter Thiel, an actual Bilderberg member, who is involved with the Trump transition team.

The libertarian leaning Senator also hit out at arch neocon John Bolton, who was being touted for the Secretary of State position, prior to Trumps appointment of Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson.:

Paul also mocked Texas Governor Rick Perry, who has been slated to run the Department of Energy, a department Perry previously stated that he wished to abolish:

Paul has been outspoken in his opposition to some of the names Trump has floated to take positions in his administration, warning that some are unfit for government.

Trump has come under increased scrutiny in recent days as some have accused him of abandoning a campaign promise to drain the swamp of Washington insiders.

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Rand Paul Is Unhappy About Trump's 'Bilderberg' Cabinet ...

Sen. Rand PaulRand PaulFive Republicans who could buck Trump in 2017 Rand Paul tears into Trump, Cabinet picks in annual 'airing of grievances' Congress should pass balanced budget with ObamaCare repeal MORE (R-Ky.) took shots at President-elect Donald TrumpDonald TrumpTrump defends foundation, hits media Four starting points for reforming Dodd-Frank Trump will meet president of Republic of Congo MORE and his incoming administration on Friday as part of his annual "airing of grievances" to celebrate Festivus.

The holiday was created on the sitcom Seinfeld, and every year the Kentucky senator uses the occasion to launch attacks on Twitter.

He started this year's airing with an image from Seinfeld and a declaration that the holiday is real.

Hello again, I hope everyone is having a Happy Festivus! It's once again time for my annual #AiringofGrievances... pic.twitter.com/pZfRtAUtZN

On the media & #fakenews: Festivus is real, media, so don't try 2 fact check it. And @TheOnion is more accurate than a Brian Williams report

Paul then pivoted to Trumps picks for his Cabinet, which by most estimates would be the wealthiest in modern history.

New administration is lookin good. Haven't seen this many billionaires in 1 place since I staked out Bilderbergs w/ Alex Jones. Good times.

Paul, who leans libertarian, also poked fun at tech billionaire Peter Thiel, an avowed libertarian who is assisting the transition.

.@peterthiel is advising the President Elect. That's great. But his plan 2 make the Statue of Liberty into a digital stop sign is a bit much

Paul set his sights on former Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton, whom he has vowed to oppose in any confirmation hearings for his interventionist views.

I know I've said a lot about @AmbJohnBolton so you're probably expecting me 2 say something nice for the holidays. Nope. #AiringofGrievances

Bolton was reportedly considered for secretary of Stat before Trump tapped Exxon Mobil Corp. CEO Rex Tillerson.

Paul also mocked former Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) for his 2011 debate gaffe in which he forgot the name of the departments that he wanted to eradicate. One of those was the Department of Energy, which Trump has chosen him to run.

My favorite Cabinet pick is what's his name, umm it's that guy who wanted to eliminate the Dept. of @ENERGY. Hang on I'll think of it...

New administration has some great people. But I wanna know who has to tell @realdonaldtrump he can't build a golf course on the South Lawn?

I've only just begun. I'll be back to talk waste, more gov grievances and nonbinding resolutions against my Senate colleagues #HappyFestivus

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Rand Paul tears into Trump, Cabinet picks in annual 'airing ...