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WASHINGTON Three years ago when he was starting to run for president, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., spoke with then-California Attorney General Kamala D. Harris about his proposals to reduce the rates at which convicted criminals commit new crimes and return to jail. Now that theyre both in the Senate, Paul and Harris are teaming up on another criminal justice reform idea they know is popular back home and believe can find bipartisan support: providing aid to people who cant afford bail.

It literally is about do you have cash sitting at home that you can afford to write the check to get out versus, you dont, youre barely making ends meet every month, Harris, D-Calif., said.

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But bills co-written by Democrats and Republicans barely move past the first round of headlines and news conferences these days even if its backed by an unlikely pair. Just ask Paul, who earned attention in 2014 for partnering with Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., to try changing the nations sentencing laws and drug control policy. The combination of a short, mop-topped ophthalmologist from rural Kentucky and the tall, bald former big-city mayor was too good to be ignored. Their plans went nowhere.

And yet, Paul is trying again.

He and Harris argue that the requirement that defendants provide some cash to get bail and earn their release keeps hundreds of thousands of defendants behind bars awaiting trial on minor charges because they cant afford to get out. They call it one of the most inequitable aspects of the criminal justice system.

I think theres a majority there might even be 60 votes for some of these things on criminal justice reform, Paul said in a joint interview with Harris on Tuesday. We have to push forward.

Harris agreed.

A lot of what were talking about is disparities in terms of how Americans are treated in the criminal justice because of their wealth or not, she said. Poor people, working people are treated differently, particularly on this issue of bail.

Paul and Harris Pretrial Integrity and Safety Act is a modest proposal that would set aside $10 million in federal grant money to begin encouraging more states to drop or curtail cash bail systems and consider other factors when sorting out if a defendant should be kept behind bars before trial.

Nationwide, roughly 47 percent of felony defendants with bonds remain jailed before their cases are heard because they cannot make bail. Harriss office said the problem affects more than 450,000 people nationwide.

But a growing number of large jurisdictions are changing their policy both to ease prison populations and to account for a defendants financial situation. For years, Washington, D.C. has released suspects awaiting trial without requiring them to leave behind any money on a promise that they will return to court and meet conditions such as checking in with a pretrial officer or submit to drug tests.

And last week, Chicago became the largest city in the nation to allow judges to consider whether people do not have enough money to pay for their release, an important victory for bail reform advocates. Under the new rules, judges can no longer set bail so high that defendants cant afford to pay for their release. The decision followed a Chicago Tribune investigation that found as many as 300 prisoners sat in the Cook County Jail because they couldnt pay $100 to post bail.

Its not just about race its about poverty, Paul said, noting that support for reforming the criminal justice system cuts across states, parties and ideology.

In Kentucky, state lawmakers are debating whether to expand a felony expungement law that would allow people convicted of minor drug offenses to clear their records after 10 years. That comes after the Republican governor signed a bill last year that allows people convicted of nonviolent felonies to apply to expunge their records if they stay out of trouble for five years and pay a $500 fee.

Paul said he supports such bills because, You cant work if you have this glaring criminal record out there that prevents you from finding work.

Three years ago this summer as buzz about a potential presidential campaign hit a fever pitch, Paul traveled to Guatemala to perform free eye surgeries for hundreds of impoverished people. The stage-managed political voyage helped reveal a rarely seen side of the senator and helped stoke speculation ahead of an ultimately unsuccessful 2016 presidential campaign.

Harris, just seven months into her first Senate term, is already enduring fevered speculation about her political future. In recent weeks, she has met with top-dollar Democratic donors who backed Hillary Clintons presidential campaign and has consented to carefully-chosen interviews with niche outlets, including a live-audience tapping of Pod Save America, a podcast popular with young progressives, and the release of a Spotify music playlist to Blavity, a website popular with Black millennials, timed to coincide with African American Music Month.

In their only joint interview to tout their new bill, Paul indirectly encouraged Harris to explore a presidential bid but didnt endorse her. After all, he hasnt ruled another presidential campaign some day.

I think on the Democrat side theres a huge opening for lots and lots of people to rise up to be that person, Paul said.

Harris dismissed speculation about the presidency but didnt deny an interest. Asked why she thinks people are talking about her as a presidential candidate, she said, I think people like to gossip.

I came to D.C. hoping to have impact on real human beings and their lives. And sharing with this incredible body of people these smart, powerful people the views and the voices of folks that might not otherwise be seen or heard, she added.

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Why are Rand Paul and Kamala Harris teaming up on a bill? The ... - The Denver Post

Following another failure on the Obamacare repeal effort, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., expressed hope Wednesday night that his conference could eventually get something done on healthcare, but would have to change its strategy.

After speaking at the Young Americans for Liberty National Convention, the senator made clear that in order to get anything done, Republicans have to find a lowest common denominator. "I think it makes more sense to start small and work big," Paul told the Washington Examiner. "They started with such an enormous bill, and then by the end they were throwing everything in there but the kitchen sink. I mean, they threw an extra hundred billion in at the very end."

The best way to get something done, Paul said, is for the Senate to craft a skinny bill to send to the House and avoid a conference committee altogether.

Paul has refused to support the Better Care Reconciliation Act primarily because of how much federal money it promises to insurance companies, something the senator called the epitome of crony capitalism in his speech to the YAL audience.

If the bill ends up in a conference committee, Paul said, it will end up looking more like the BCRA. "I think if it goes to conference committee again and they load it up with all the pork, I won't vote for it. If they pass the skinny bill that both conservatives and moderates can vote for, I think then you've got a chance to just send it over directly to the House."

There are still concerns about how insurance markets would respond to an Obamacare repeal, especially a "skinny" repeal, which would focus less on stabilizing the marketplace as the BCRA did and more on simply repealing Obamacare. Paul spoke of his effort to work association health plans, which would allow those in the individual market to group together and create bigger and more-diverse risk pools, into a skinny repeal proposal.

However, Paul also said that without true repeal, there is no hope for stabilized markets.

"The insurance market is a disaster now, and no matter what you do, unless you're willing to repeal all the regulations, it will be a disaster in 2018," Paul said.

"It's not the fault of Republicans. It's the fault of Obamacare."

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Rand Paul says Republicans should seek 'lowest common denominator' on healthcare negotiations - Washington Examiner

Three crucial Republican senators said Tuesday they will vote for a procedural motion in Republicans' push to repeal Obamacare, a boost to the GOP effort in what is expected to be a tight vote.

The support from Sens. Rand Paul, Dean Heller and Shelley Moore Capito makes passing the motion to proceed later Tuesday a much more realistic goal. All three opposed previous versions of a repeal or replacement plan.

Republicans can only lose two votes and still approve the procedural motion. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, is a firm "no" on the motion, while some other Republicans remain undecided.

Paul, the conservative from Kentucky who has opposed some iterations of the Republican Obamacare replacement plan, has backed a 2015 bill that repeals parts of the landmark health-care law. Congress approved that plan knowing that then-President Barack Obama would veto it.

In tweets, Paul said he will support any and all measures "that are clean repeal." He highlighted a plan that repeals "mandates and taxes" without "new spending and bailouts."

Heller, the senator from Nevada, vehemently opposed a previous Obamacare replacement plan. He said in a statement he would vote "to move forward and give us a chance to address the unworkable aspects of the law that have left many Nevadans particularly those living in rural areas with dwindling or no choices."

"If the final product isn't improved for the state of Nevada, then I will not vote for it; if it is improved, I will support it," Heller said.

Capito said in a statement that she will "continue to push for policies that result in affordable health care coverage for West Virginians, including those who are in the Medicaid population and those struggling with drug addiction."

Several GOP senators have expressed concerns about what a so-called clean repeal, as passed in 2015, would do to insurance markets.

The Senate could take a complicated path if the motion to proceed passes. One possible route could end with a so-called skinny repeal, according to NBC News, which cited two Senate sources.

The Senate would "move on to debate and vote on a variety of approaches to the bill," like the repeal now and replace later plan that Paul supports but is expected to get blocked, NBC reported.

The chamber could then field some version of the replacement plan that stalled out recently, which may also fail. After that may come a vote for a partial, "skinny" repeal that would eliminate the individual mandate penalty, the employer mandate penalty and the medical device tax, according to NBC.

A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell declined to comment to CNBC on what the Senate would do next if the motion passes.

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Rand Paul, Dean Heller plan to support Republican Obamacare vote

Sen. Rand Paul appears to be inching closer to helping GOP leaders get a healthcare bill over a procedural hurdle, The Hill reported.

The Kentucky Republican told reporters he'd support a motion to proceed to the House-passed healthcare bill the vehicle being used for action in the Senate if he could get a deal on amendments, including one on a "clean repeal."

"If they want my vote, they have to at least agree that we're going to at least have a vote on clean repeal," he said, The Hill reported.

He suggested he'd be on board of Senate leaders guarantee votes on some of the most prominent healthcare proposals from the GOP including repeal-only, repeal-and-replace and a bill created by Sens. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Susan Collins of Maine.

"I think they're pretty equal in support," he said, The Hill reported. "Let's do a random selection. Let's have three or four of them, put them in random order, the first day, equal billing. I think that's a compromise. I'm willing to get on the bill."

Senators are expected to hold a procedural vote Tuesday.

Paul has been a unequivocal "no" vote on the GOP's healthcare bill, and GOP leaders could get a boost if Paul were to come over to the "yes" side, and at least debate healthcare legislation.

"Up front we have a vote on clean repeal, and maybe [the Better Care Reconciliation Act], and maybe Collins-Cassidy. I think the major proposals could be put at the very front. We debate them on the first day," he said.

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Rand Paul: I Want a 'Clean Repeal' Amendment on Healthcare Bill

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., confirmed that he will vote to move the Republican healthcare bill forward in the Senate, but stressed that he wont support the bill if conservatives arent more involved.

Nobody in Congress is more for repealing Obamacare and replacing all of it than me, Paul said on Fox News Fox & Friends Tuesday morning. Im not for [the bill]. Ill vote to get the bill out. But I want some assurance that well have a vote on a clean repeal. I think conservatives have been treated shoddy.

The Senate is scheduled for a preliminary vote on the GOP healthcare bill on Tuesday afternoon. The party has had a difficult time finding the 50 votes necessary, despite the GOP holding 52 seats in the upper chamber.

A number of conservatives associated with the Tea Party movement, including Paul and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, both of whom have been holdouts on the bill. Neither thinks it goes far enough to cut insurance costs or subsidies.

Paul said Tuesday that his faction haven't gotten zip from leadership, and that he has a lot of problems with this process, because conservatives are getting nothing.

"There's no promise of a clean repeal vote," Paul added. If they're not even going to talk with conservatives, if we're going to be excluded from the process, conservatives don't need to participate in this pork fest.

He said theres probably nobody in Congress more for repealing and replacing all of Obamacare than him.

I campaigned on it but what theyre putting forward isnt repeal and it becomes a huge insurance bailout.

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Sen. Rand Paul to Vote 'Yes' on Healthcare Bill - Newsmax