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Rand Paul has helped to block Republican efforts to introduce a new health bill. Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Rand Paul, one of the conservative senators who has helped to hold up Republican healthcare reform, on Sunday derided the current Senate bill as a monstrosity and a porkfest and said he would not vote for it to proceed to debate this week.

With Donald Trump telling senators to stay in Washington until they have a replacement for Barack Obamas Affordable Care Act (ACA), majority leader Mitch McConnell is reportedly looking to hold a vote to proceed to debate as early as Tuesday.

McConnell must attempt to win over conservatives such as Paul, of Kentucky, Ted Cruz of Texas and Mike Lee of Utah, who oppose government intervention in the insurance market.

Moderates such as Susan Collins of Maine have expressed opposition to the bill in terms of its $800bn cuts to Medicaid, the government programme that supports the young, elderly, poor and infirm.

The real question is what are we moving to, what are we opening to debate to, said Paul on CNNs State of the Union. Last week the Senate leadership said it would be a clean repeal, like the 2015 bill that we all voted for, and I think thats a good idea.

Obama vetoed the 2015 repeal, one of a succession of attempts by Republicans in Congress to bring down his signature legislative achievement.

Trump, eager for legislative success after six months in office without it, first said this week that the ACA should be repealed before a replacement was ready; then said it should simply be allowed to fail; then demanded a replacement at the same time as a repeal.

Paul continued: The alternative is the Senate leadership bill that doesnt repeal Obamacare, is Obamacare-lite and is loaded with pork, its become a porkfest where theyre dumping billions of dollars into pet projects for individual senators. Im not for that.

Ive told them I will vote for a motion to proceed if we proceed to a clean repeal vote. If it fails they can put up their monstrosity that they want to put forward, but Im not for that because Im not for the taxpayer subsidising private industry.

Speaking to CBSs Face the Nation, Collins said uncertainty over what would be voted on this week was not a good approach to facing legislation that affects millions of people and one sixth of our economy.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said this week that repeal of the ACA without a replacement would lead to 32m Americans losing health insurance in the next decade.

The CBO score on the Senate healthcare bill put that figure at 22m. Republican healthcare proposals remain extremely unpopular with the voting public.

On Friday, the Senate parliamentarian threw another obstacle in the Republicans way. The chief rules adviser to the upper chamber said several provisions of the bill including the defunding of Planned Parenthood were not eligible for the 51-vote threshold of the budget reconciliation process and would have to attract 60 votes to pass.

The 48 Senate Democrats are united in their opposition to Republican attempts to repeal the ACA.

On Saturday, Trump included healthcare in a sequence of 10 morning tweets, writing: The Republican senators must step up to the plate and, after seven years, vote to repeal and replace. Next, tax reform and infrastructure. WIN!

Obamacare is dead and the Democrats are obstructionists, no ideas or votes, only obstruction. It is solely up to the 52 Republican senators!

He then included healthcare in a speech to a military audience in Norfolk, Virginia marking the launch of the USS Gerald R Ford, a new nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.

You can call those senators to make sure you get healthcare, the president said, a political remark that some observers deemed inappropriate.

Ben Rhodes, a former senior adviser to Obama, tweeted that Trumps words were a huge deal. Obama (or Bushes) never would have done this. Violates most fundamental norms separating military and politics.

The president is committed to repealing and replacing Obamacare, said Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the new White House press secretary, on Sunday on ABCs This Week. Inaction is not an option and the president was making that clear yesterday and speaking not just to the people in the room but to the American people.

On CBS, White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci was asked if Trumps mixed messaging on healthcare could damage the Republican push for reform.

Trumps contradictory tweets, Scaramucci said, showed the president signaling over the top of the mainstream media.

He basically wants to repeal and replace Obamacare, he said. He knows thats the best thing for the American people. It turns out that he may not be able to get that done with a recalcitrant Congress.

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Latest Republican health bill 'a porkfest, a monstrosity', Rand Paul says - The Guardian

Demonstrators protesting the Senate GOPhealthcare legislation were escorted out of Sen. Cory GardnerCory GardnerProtesters interrupt Senate Republicans speech over healthcare Interior recommends preserving Colorado site's monument status Overnight Energy: Exxon sues feds over M fine | Deputy Interior pick advances | Oil concerns hold up Russia sanctions push MOREs (R-Co.) speech addressing healthcare at a conservative conference on Friday.

Video shows police escorting protesters, who were chanting save our liberty, no cuts to Medicaid during Gardners speech, out of the room.

Here's video of the moment when people interrupted Sen. Gardner and when the police showed up to escort them out. pic.twitter.com/eLaKChOxty

The protesters were from a disability advocate group known as Atlantis ADAPT, according to The Denver Post.

Denvers NBC affiliate KUSA reported two protesters were escorted out.

No arrests were made, according to Denver police.

The latest healthcare protests come after Gardner was subpoenaed to appear in court for cases of five protesters who were arrested at his Denver office.

Gardner is one of many Senate Republicans facing heat for the conferences ObamaCare repeal and replace legislation.

Major portions of the bill require 60 votes, according to the Senate parliamentarian, meaning they most likely will not survive on the Senate floor.

- This post was updated at 10:56 a.m.

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Protesters interrupt Senate Republican's speech over healthcare ... - The Hill

Minutes after a bipartisan coalition of California lawmakers voted to extend the states landmark climate change policy for another decade, Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown stood in front of a bank of television cameras and compared the plan to one championed 30 years ago by GOP icon Ronald Reagan.

Back then, the Republican president helped negotiate the Montreal protocol to curb the release of gases that were destroying the ozone layer, persuading Republicans to join Democrats in approving an insurance policy that made economic sense in case environmentalists were right. Brown said the California cap and trade program the Legislature approved Monday night won support for a similar reason.

This is an insurance policy, he said. I think the business community, to a great extent, sees that and agrees with where were going.

Indeed, though major business groups have fought against California climate policies in the past, they backed the plan to extend cap and tradea five-year-old marketplace in which companies buy and sell permits to emit greenhouse gases. Business support prompted some Republicans to favor the legislation as well, leading to a bipartisan vote that notches a win for Browns environmental agenda. In fact some progressive groups complained that the bipartisan negotiations had resulted in a monstrosity of a plan overly favorable to corporate interests.

That the Democratic governor celebrated its passage by invoking Reagan, the legendary conservative, signals the political surprise underlying the fight over how to stem global warming: the Republican case for cap and trade. Its hard to imagine it on the national stage, with Republicans in Washington challenging the veracity of climate science and President Donald Trump pulling the country out of an international agreement to slow global warming.

But in California, a deep blue state leading the charge to curb climate change, the question for many Republicans isnt whether global warming is happeningits what kind of policies are best to address it.

I know for some, theyre going to look at this and say what in the world is going on? Why are Republicans talking about something like cap and trade? Assembly Republican Leader Chad Mayes of Yucca Valley said following the vote Monday night.

Well Ill tell you, we believe that markets are better than Soviet-style command and control. We believe that markets are better than the government coercing people into doing things that they dont want to do. We believe that businesses in California want to do the right thing, which is why we supported cap and trade.

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Most Republicans disagreed with himthe bill won support from just eight of 38 Republican legislators, and all but a handful of Democrats. The GOP divide revealed a split between business-aligned Republicans who favored cap and trade, and others who rejected it with a Trump-style message of economic populism. Assemblyman Travis Allen, a conservative Republican from Huntington Beach who is running for governor next year, called cap and trade a continuation of California Democrats attack on the working middle class and the poor of this state, because it will cause fuel prices to go up.

But polluting industries that participate in cap and tradeoil companies, utilities, food processors and othersbroadly agree that cap and trade will cost less than the alternatives. Thats because last year, California enshrined in state law a goal to slash greenhouse gas emissions by a whopping 40 percent between 2020 and 2030. Business groups fought hard against the bill establishing that goal because it will make operations more expensive for companies that send climate-warming gas into the air. But they lost that fight, and with the target now set, cap and trade appeals to businesses as a way to maintain some flexibility while they work to reach the collective emissions reduction goal.

Once (the law) was in place and we had the goals that we must reach, it was all about finding the least expensive path for our economy, said Gino DiCaro, vice president of the California Manufacturers and Technology Association, which opposed the plan to lower emissions last year but supported this years cap and trade bill.

Without cap and trade, many business groups said, the state could impose requirements for slashing emissions that would be more onerous on business, speculating that air board bureaucrats could cook up tougher regulations or a new carbon tax that would cost a lot more than cap and trade.

DiCaro pointed to research showing that costs would go up three times as much without cap and trade if the state came up with other ways to reduce emissions. The California Chamber of Commerce also supported the cap and trade extension, even though its been challenging the program in court for years. Spokeswoman Denise Davis said the Chamber has backed cap and trade since it was first envisioned in 2006 and that its lawsuit only focused on whether the auction component of cap and trade amounted to an illegal taxan argument the courts rejected.

Even though most Republican lawmakers opposed the bill to extend cap and trade, those who voted for it argued that it was good for business. And by negotiating with Brown over many months, Mayes, the Assembly Republican leader, was able to extract key concessions that made a vote for cap and trade more enticing to some GOP lawmakers. The package of bills includes the repeal of a firefighting fee on rural homeowners that Republicans have long tried to scrap, a tax break for energy companies pursuing clean energy projects, the extension of a sales tax break for manufacturing companies, and a constitutional amendment that could give Republicans more say in 2024 on how to spend cap-and-trade revenues.

After the bill passed, the California Business Round Tablea consortium of the states largest employerslaunched a series of social media ads thanking the eight Republicans who voted for cap and trade. But a bitter backlash was brewing among conservative Republicans, with one publicly calling on Mayes to resign.

Yet former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Republican who signed the 2006 bill that led to the creation of Californias cap and trade, took to Facebook to thank Mayes for following in the footsteps of great Republicans like Teddy Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan, who fought for his own cap and trade program to repair the ozone layer.

I hope Republicans around the country can learn from the example of Assemblyman Mayes and his fellow Republicans that we can fight for free market policies to clean up our environment for our children at the same time we fight for a booming economy.

CALmatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.

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Latest California innovation: A Republican case for cap and trade - LA Daily News

Dr. Kelli Ward concedes to Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., in Scottsdale, Arizona on August 30, 2016. David Kadlubowski / AP file

McCain, 80, revealed on Wednesday that doctors had diagnosed him with

Ward shared on Twitter Wednesday immediately after McCains office announced the senator was suffering from an aggressive form of brain cancer that she was Wishing Mr. McCain comfort and peace. Two days later, she went on the Indiana radio show to announce that his absence from the Senate cant stand.

In a statement shared with NBC News on Friday, Ward said she was praying for McCain and his family and called the diagnosis "grim."

"Senator McCain has an aggressive brain cancer that is both devastating and debilitating," Ward said. "When the time comes that Senator McCain can no longer perform his duties in the Senate at full capacity, he owes it to the people of Arizona to step aside."

Ward then cited her experience as a physician.

"Senator McCain and his family have a lot of hard decisions to make," she added in the statement. "As a doctor, Ive counseled patients in similar situations and these end-of-life choices are never easy. I usually advise terminal patients to reduce stress, relax, and spend time laughing with loved ones."

Ward is an osteopathic physician and former Arizona state senator. She said during the Indiana interview that she could not presume to understand McCains prognosis and added that she is a Christian who believes in miracles.

Nevertheless, she concluded that McCains full force return to the Senate was unlikely.

After listing a few vague items on President Donald Trumps agenda secure the border and stop illegal immigration and repeal Obamacare and fix the economy and fix the Veterans Administration Ward said that Arizonans cant be at a standstill while we wait for John McCain to determine what hes going to do.

Julie Tarallo, McCains spokeswoman, declined to respond to Wards statements.

McCain, for his part,

Ward said in the radio interview that she would be a strong choice to replace him.

"I have a proven track record in the Arizona state senate of being extremely effective and of listening to the people I represent," she said. "I made an extremely good showing against Sen. McCain against all odds. He outspent me nearly 10 to 1."

Ward lost to McCain by 12.5 points in 2016.

Flake, who Ward is challenging in the 2018 Republican primary, said he was taken aback by Wards radio appearance.

"John McCain is a fighter and an American hero, Flake said in a statement. I fully expect to see him back in the senate soon. Im dumbstruck by Kelli Wards comments.

McCains congressional colleagues

"He has never shied from a fight and I know that he will face this challenge with the same extraordinary courage that has characterized his life," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said in a statement. "We all look forward to seeing this American hero again soon."

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Arizona Republican Says McCain Should Resign, Adds She'd Be Strong Replacement - NBCNews.com

The band of people trying to revive the all-but-dead Minneapolis Republican Party have no illusions. Not about their political clout, nor about their candidates ability to actually win elections.

But lowered expectations also mean there are opportunities for small victories for the 34 delegates who attended the city Republican Partys endorsing convention earlier this week at the Eagles Lodge in the Seward neighborhood. Over the calls of a Bingo announcer in the bar next door, delegates spent two hours organizing, talking strategy, and considering which candidates the party will endorse for what are nominally non-partisan municipal offices.

Its kind of hard in Minneapolis to be a Republican because they have managed somehow to totally demoralize us, said city party chair Christina Pierson. Im a fighter and very rarely demoralized. But some folks are afraid to show up and even let their neighbors know theyre Republican.

In what may be the most-liberal and Democratic city between Chicago and Seattle, to be a Republican is to be vastly outnumbered, and always outgunned. Though Donald Trump received nearly 26,000 votes from Minneapolis voters last November, Hillary Clinton got 174,585.

So if their candidates cant win, why bother?

Party activists say they would rather win than lose, of course, and feeling politically impotent is what led to the dissolution of the city party after the 2013 elections. Our first objective is to elect a Republican mayor and a Republican city council good luck with that, quipped Alan Shilepsky, a former GOP candidate for state Legislature and secretary of state.

But Shilepsky thinks city Republicans can at least play a role in city elections. They can look at the candidates for mayor with an eye toward finding someone who is better than others from a GOP perspective. And in a close ranked-choice-vote election, those votes could make a difference. I sure know who in the general election for mayor will be my second choice, he said. And if we dont have a candidate, that person will be my first choice, because Id rather have them than Ray Dehn or Nekima Levy-Pounds or Jacob Frey.

Besides, offering tacit support to candidates running as DFLers could show other residents that the party is reasonable, he said. Were not saying we only accept Republicans for mayor and city council. We have second choices and we see a difference between some of these people, he said.

The problem, however, is that there are DFL campaign teams that would relish having one of their Democratic opponents being praised by Republicans. Shilepsky acknowledged that reality. I will say the one thing that worries me is the Kiss Of Death Factor, he said. Maybe in this city it could hurt some candidates. Its something we need to think about, maybe talk to some people, whether they welcome or totally disdain our encouragement or support.

Still, Pierson said her central committee will consider providing GOP voters with some suggestions to distinguish among the candidates for city offices. Party rules permit only one candidate to be endorsed by the party and to carry that label with them into the election, but Pierson said her committee will consider whether it should recommend second or third choices to members and on sample ballots.

The numbers of city Republicans willing to show themselves Tuesday, or perhaps willing to devote a summer evening to politics, was meager. A credentials report revealed that while the party had allocated 347 delegate slots to the citys 13 council wards based on the 2013 GOP vote for governor, only 34 delegates arrived to claim them. Wards 2, 4, 5 and 6 had no delegates present and the tables set aside for them sat empty.

Wards 1 and 10 had just one delegate report. That led to an odd situation when the convention moved to endorse council candidates. That sole Ward 10 delegate, Bruce Lundeen, was also a city council candidate seeking the GOP endorsement. Under the rules, only delegates from each ward could vote on endorsements. So, technically at least, Lundeen voted to endorse himself.

To give him company, convention chair Carlton Crawford allowed everyone to join in the voice vote. And one delegate joked that the minutes should at least record that Lundeen was endorsed unanimously. Lundeen has been a loyal GOP ballot filler over the last several elections, last serving as the party nominee for state Senate district 62 against incumbent DFL Sen. Jeff Hayden. Lundeen managed to capture 11.7 percent of the vote.

There were no delegates from Ward 6, for which Fadumo Yusef was seeking the party endorsement for her challenge of Minneapolis Council Member Abdi Warsame. The city central committee will consider endorsing her when it next meets, Pierson said. In the meantime, Pierson said she would appoint Yusef to the empty chair of the ward organization, making her a member of the central committee.

Wards 1, 2 and 5 remain without a representative on the committee, something Pierson said she hopes to remedy soon.

The party did give endorsements to six candidates. For at-large seats on the Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board, it endorsed Jonathan Honerbrink and Rob Sullentrap. Honerbrink had until this week been running for mayor, but changed because he has more knowledge of the park system, he said.

For the district 6 park board seat, the party endorsed Jennifer Zielinski. And, in addition to Lundeen in Ward 10, the convention also endorsed Joseph Kovacs for city council in Ward 7.

And what took the citys DFLers 12 hours to not accomplish took Republicans just two. They did not select a party candidate for mayor of Minneapolis. While the Democrats failed to choose among seven hopefuls, the Republicans had just one. But rather than endorse that candidate Bob Again Carney the convention followed the recommendation of its nominations committee to reject him and go with no one instead.

Brian Bergs, the chairman of that committee, told delegates that after interviewing Carney, the four members found that he did not have a strong background to be mayor and was focused on a single issue: transportation and transportation funding.

And then there was the fact that Carney has written a book calling for the impeachment of President Trump. One delegate said he recalled speaking to him and that Carney noted that he hadnt voted for a Republican for president in 48 years.

Said Carney: I voted for Romney.

Having supported GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney in 2012 wasnt enough for delegates, though. The motion to not endorse for mayor was approved on a near-unanimous voice vote.

It wasnt always this way. Delegate John Bergford recalled that when he was GOP leader of the Minneapolis City Council, there were 10 Republicans and three Democrats.

That was during the 1960s. The current council is 12-1 but the one isnt a Republican. Its Green Party member Cam Gordon, who is to the left of several of the DFL members.

Pierson was apologetic for the stripped down arrangements and the paucity of delegates. Until a microphone was provided by the lodge, speakers struggled to compete with the Bingo caller. But she said the city party will try to become more organized and more conspicuous, showing up at city council meetings and attending truth in taxation hearings in the fall.

Were still putting the spokes on the wheel so we can get the wheel on the wagon, she said.

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Bingo, Bob, and kisses of death: checking in on the Minneapolis Republican Party's convention - MinnPost