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Sen. Rand Paul discusses the GOP health care bill before a TV interview on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, March, 15. | AP Photo

By Aidan Quigley

03/22/17 10:56 AM EDT

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul said Wednesday he hopes the GOP will pull the American Health Care Act from consideration ahead of an expected vote on the bill's passage tomorrow.

My hope is they will pull the bill today sometime and that when they pull the bill, well have a serious conversation with conservatives at the table, he said during an appearance on Fox Business. And well come to an agreement. We want to come to an agreement, and that agreement is for complete repeal.

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President Donald Trump and Speaker of the House Paul Ryan have been pushing the bill aggressively, as holdouts from moderate and conservative wings of the party threaten the bills passage. A vote on the bill is expected to occur Thursday.

Paul blasted Ryan and the rest of the Republican leadership for proposing a bill which maintains some aspects of Obamacare.

Thats not what we ran on, thats not what we voted for, he said. If there is a fault to be had, its in the leadership putting forward something that is not what we ran on.

The Kentucky senator said grassroots conservatives do not like the bill, which he called Obamacare-lite.

I think there is a little tone deafness up here, theyre not realizing, he said. I saw go home and listen to people on both sides of the equation. Nobody likes the bill.

Paul added there is no rush to pass the bill.

Theres not a rush to do it in one day, he said. I think we could have a week, a couple of weeks of discussion. The most important thing is conservatives should have a seat at the table.

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Sen. Rand PaulRand PaulHealthcare fight pits Trump against Club for Growth GOP rep: Trump could be 'one-term president' if healthcare bill passes Overnight Defense: Pentagon chief urges Congress to approve budget boost | Senate fight over NATO addition MORE is drawing the ire of his colleagues by being the lone holdout on a treaty allowing Montenegro to have membership in NATO.

The Kentucky Republican says it is in the United States best interest to keep the small Eastern European country out of the alliance, but some of his colleagues think he is playing a leverage game with Senate leadership.

Tensions surrounding the issue boiled over on the Senate floor last week when Paul blocked Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCainJohn McCainMcCain: Nunes actions 'very disturbing' McCain calls North Korean leader a 'crazy, fat kid' McCain: Congress doesn't have 'credibility' to handle Russia probes MORE (R-Ariz.) from bringing up a vote on the treaty.

Paul responded a day later, calling the 80-year-old McCain unhinged.

I think he makes a really, really strong case for term limits, Paul said Thursday on MSNBC. I think maybe he's past his prime.

Pauls office also released a statement that said it is unwise to allow Montenegro into NATO because it would add to Americas military burden.

Currently, the United States has troops in dozens of countries and is actively fighting in Iraq, Syria, Libya, and Yemen (with the occasional drone strike in Pakistan), his office wrote following McCains accusation. In addition, the United States is pledged to defend 28 countries in NATO. It is unwise to expand the monetary and military obligations of the United States given the burden of our $20 trillion debt.

One Republican senator who spoke on the condition of anonymity said Paul blocked the treaty because he wants a floor vote on the 2016 authorization for use of military force (AUMF) that former President Obama used to launch the ongoing military campaign against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

Paul has spoken out at length about the need to review, reform or repeal the AUMF, which allows the president to decide how and when to go to war with another nation with little congressional input or involvement.

Hes always been isolationist against anything the United States has ever done, the senator said. Theres a certain element in the Republican Party that is very isolationist, Im sure hes representing that.

The ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Ben CardinBen CardinRand Paul roils the Senate with NATO blockade Lawmakers want Trump commitment to help Iraq post-ISIS Trump's budget revealed his priorities. Now the fun begins. MORE (Md.), told The Hill that Paul held up the NATO vote to get something considerable."

Cardin who had joined McCain on the floor to push for a debate and vote on the treaty before Paul blocked the measure said his fellow senators are upset with the stall tactics.

He added that Paul was in talks with Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob CorkerBob CorkerRand Paul roils the Senate with NATO blockade Lawmakers want Trump commitment to help Iraq post-ISIS Trump needs a united front to win overseas MORE (R-Tenn.) to work out a compromise on the issue.

Corkers office did not respond to request for comment.

Reuters reported Tuesday that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson urged the Senate to vote on ratifying Montenegro as a NATO member in a letter to leadership dated March 7.

He called for a floor vote on the issue before a NATO summit in a few months.

"Montenegro's participation in the May NATO Summit as full member, not as an observer, will send a strong signal of transatlantic unity," Tillerson wrote. "It is strongly in the interests of the United States that Montenegro's membership in NATO be ratified.

Montenegro, a tiny nation north of Greece in the Balkans, has attempted to join NATO for more than seven years. The move has the support of the Pentagon and State Department, as well 25 of the 28 NATO member nations, as Russia has attempted to hold sway in the country in the last several years.

The issue came up again Tuesday during a Senate Armed Services Hearing, when former NATO Deputy Secretary General Alexander Vershbow testified that Russia sponsored an armed coup d'etat in Montenegro last year to derail the country's accession to NATO.

Vershbow said allowing Montenegro into the alliance would set an example that countries that do their do their homework, meet the criteria, contribute to stability in their neighborhood can become members of NATO, even if they don't bring a huge amount of defense capability to the alliance.

McCain, who spoke to The Hill following the hearing, said Pauls delay remains severely unhelpful as far as the situation is concerned.

Despite the frustration, one lawmaker said it is not all in Pauls hands to block the treaty.

Sen. Chris MurphyChris MurphyRand Paul roils the Senate with NATO blockade Lawmakers want Trump commitment to help Iraq post-ISIS Ten years later, House Dems reunite and look forward MORE (D-Conn.) suggested it was Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnellMitch McConnellOvernight Healthcare: High drama for ObamaCare vote | Freedom Caucus chair 'optimistic' about deal | Trump woos right High drama for ObamaCare vote Senate nixes Obama-era workplace safety rule MORE (R-Ky.) who was stalling the vote and called the idea that Paul alone was stopping Montenegros NATO treaty fiction.

Theres no rule that says NATO enlargement needs 100 votes, so bring it up for a debate, Murphy told The Hill. McConnell doesnt need to give [Paul] anything. He is stopping Montenegro from joining NATO because all he has to do is schedule a vote. It would take a day, maybe. Schedule a vote, get this done with, itll be 99 to 1.

A spokesman for McConnell said the senator is supportive of Montenegro joining NATO and has not scheduled a debate on the issue because it requires all 100 senators to consent.

But Murphy disagreed.

Every day that the Senate doesnt act on adding Montenegro to NATO is a gift to the Russians, Murphy said. So schedule a vote and stop blaming it on Rand Paul.

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On Tuesday, President Trump warned House Republicans that if they didn't vote for the GOP health care plan they could potentially face political problems.The warning was given a day after Republican leaders released amendments to try and sway critics and naysayers of the proposal.

Regardless of the warning, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said that he will vote no against the American Health Care Act because it does not fully repeal Obamacare.

I have a lot in common with the president in that we both ran on repealing ObamacareWe [conservatives] ran on repealing it not replacing it with Obamacare Lite and I think Paul Ryans plan wont fix the problems. I think it will continue to allow the insurance premiums to skyrocket, he told FOX Businesses Lou Dobbs.

Paul is anticipating that the GOP health care bill will fail because lawmakers are already building bail outs for the insurance companies.

My replacement strategy is let everybody in America join a buy-in group, he said. Im not for subsidizing and keeping the prices up for insurance companies, Im for giving everybody the ability and freedom to join a group to bring prices down.

Paul thinks that he can get Democrats on board with his proposal to have Americans buy into pools or co-ops, which he believes will bring down premiums.

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Theres 100 billion in there to bail out the insurance companies, so insurance companies have actually doubled their profits under Obamacare. I am not feeling sorry for the insurance companiesAnd the Ryan plan will continue that, what I really want to do is empower the consumer so we bring down the insurance rates and bring down the ability of the insurance company to make money off the tax payer, he said.

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Last-minute negotiations over the American Health Care Act could lead reluctant members of the House Freedom Caucus to vote for the reform measure, but it would take changing the bill into one that would "actually lower insurance rates," Sen. Rand Paul said Wednesday.

"The most visible problem with Obamacare is the spiraling upwards premiums in the individual market," the Kentucky Republican told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program.

"We need to do something to bring those prices down, and that means you have to repeal the insurance mandates of Obamacare, and also we have to provide hope for the millions of people in the individual market that we are going to give them something better."

Paul, who calls the AHCA "Obamacare-lite," advocates allowing people participating in the individual healthcare marketplaces to be able to insurance through group plans as one way to bring down costs.

"Imagine 37 million people in AARP having one person negotiate their rate," said Paul. "Everybody talks about how drug prices could come down through leverage, and insurance prices could come down through leveraged prices as well. We need to offer something that is hopeful to people and we are not doing that yet."

To make the ACHA a "good bill and have good stuff in it," many of the "Obamacare-lite" items can be removed that House Speaker Paul Ryan wants, continued Paul, including that the new legislation allows just half as many subsidies as Obamacare did.

"Get rid of the the regulations and offer people hope by joining a buying group, and do it through budget reconciliation," said Paul, pointing out that Vice President Mike Pence can, while acting as Senate President, rule that the bill is reconcilable.

"If we have the guts to do it, and I don't know if we have the guts to do it, we have the power to do it," said Paul.

"They say the chair rules and not the parliamentarian. The vice president should come to the Senate and say we are getting rid of all of the Obamacare regulations, and we are also going to replace it with buying groups, and we have something positive we could offer."

Meanwhile, Paul said he believes President Donald Trump is backing the AHCA because he's been told things by House leaders that "frankly are not accurate."

"He has been told this is the only vehicle, and Paul Ryan has been saying it for weeks, it's a binary choice, you take it and it's my way or the highway," said Paul. "I think he has been fed a bill of goods on this thing, and there's a bill we could pass that would bring down costs and this bill doesn't do it.

"I have fought against Obamacare for years and I am a physician and I want to repeal it, but not with replace it with something that doesn't work or is just a high."

Paul noted that as a surgeon who has done charity work for his whole career, he has a great deal of sympathy for people who can't afford insurance, but he wants a better program, not just another government plan.

"Medicaid doesn't work," said Paul, and many doctors don't take the paln because they are not paid well through it. "The better health insurance is a good job and good insurance, and if you have to work for a small employer, let's let you join a large group."

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The demonetization of high-denomination notes of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000 by the BJP-led Government of India in November last year sent shock waves across the country. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his 2017 New Years speech, dubbed this move as a historic rite of purification, giving it a religious aspect. In the same speech, Modi struck a philosophical note by claiming that humans are inherently good, but over time, evil creeps into societies. He later clarifies that evil is synonymous with corruption, black money and counterfeit notes.

But, judging by the prominent place black money takes in his speech, one can safely assume that the government stripped two currency notes of their legal status principally to undermine Indias underground economy. Black money can be defined as income illegally obtained or not declared for tax purposes. The second part of the definition is often ignored by governments.

In his essay The Underground Economy Hans F. Sennholz accurately predicted this stance of governments when he wrote:

Government officials and agents are ever eager to lump both together, the criminals and their organization with the producers in the underground. Both groups are knowingly violating laws and regulations and defying political authority. But they differ radically in the role they play in society. The underworld comprises criminals who are committing acts of bribery, fraud, and racketeering, and willfully inflicting wrongs on society. The underground economy involves otherwise law-abiding citizens who are seeking refuge from the wrongs inflicted on them by government.

True to Sennholzs prediction, Modi, in his speech, said, It is accepted the world over, that terrorism, Naxalism, Maoism, counterfeit currency trade, drug trade, human trafficking all of these depend on black money. The underlying assumption in this argument that black money serves only criminals is incorrect. There are doctors, lawyers, accountants, and businessmen who seek refuge in the underground economy because of the enormous burden of taxation. Tax is a legalized form of theft and it reduces the marginal utility of productive efforts. In other words, the will to do productive work is lessened because the returns on productive work is reduced. Therefore, the only way such money can be brought into the formal economy is by reducing tax rates across all income groups.

Modi supports his flawed argument with several flawed premises. Economists agree that when cash is outside the formal economy, it is a cause of worry, he said. This is clearly an appeal-to-authority logical fallacy since he fails to mention which economists find it worrisome. There, certainly, will be economists who will be on board with governments agenda to capture money that escaped taxation.

Modis reason for why he wants to incorporate black money into the economy is, When it joins the mainstream, it is an opportunity for development. That is Orwellian double-speak for government spending and it ought to be seen for what it really is: an opportunity to provide even more subsidies to the partys voting blocs. Government spending distorts the economy, and contrary to popular belief, it does not lead to economic growth. True growth is fueled by growth in valuable goods and services in any economy.

Modi declared that inflation is the fallout from an increase in black money in the economy. The excess of cash was fueling inflation and black-marketing, he said. It was denying the poor their due. Granted, monetary inflation erodes the value of money and the poor are hurt most by it, but it is futile to blame black money for it. Monetary inflation is caused by an excess of money and credit circulating in the economy, and it is the Reserve Bank of India, with its market-distorting interest rate cuts, that ought to be blamed.

Another major activity of an underground economy is economic production that flouts minimum wage laws. Minimum wage laws are a form of price control. About minimum wage laws, Sennholz stated:

Minimum wage laws are nothing more than government orders to workers that they must not work for less than the stated minimum, and to employers that they must pay the minimum, or not employ at all. But such mandates may deny millions of workers the right to work, which is synonymous with the basic right to sustain their lives through their own efforts.

Indias Minimum Wages Act of 1948 specifies minimum wages on a per day basis. Last year, Rajasthans state government set Rs. 5,642 (approximately $84.6) per month as the minimum wage for housemaids. In a country where 828 million people (or 75.6% of the population) live below $2 a day, paying a housemaid $84.6 per month seems like a ludicrous proposition.

Underground economies have existed since the dawn of civilizations and they serve a useful purpose. The government would do well to realize that the road to prosperity does not begin with shredding currency notes, increasing taxes and attacking the underground economy.

Sriparna Neogi has a Masters degree in Business Administration. She works as an analyst in one of Indias largest e-commerce companies.

Image source: https://www.pexels.com/search/rupees/

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Demonetization: A Thinly-Veiled Attack on India's Underground Economy - Being Libertarian