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President Donald Trump golfed with Sen. Rand Paul this afternoon, together with White House Budget Director Mick Mulvaney.

We had a great day with the president. Played some golf, and we talked and we talked about a little bit of health care, Paul told reporters after the game. I continue to be very optimistic that we are getting closer and closer to an agreement on repealing Obamacare.

The group golfed at the Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virgina, not far from Washington, D.C.

Paul remains one of the toughest opponents of the House drafted bill to replace Obamacare, asserting that it doesnt sufficiently repeal the bill. Earlier in the week, Paul met with journalist Matt Drudge of the Drudge Report to discuss the future of the country.

Intriguing lunch in hill office of Americas best senator, Rand Paul, Drudge wrote afterwards on Twitter. Hes bold, brave and has somehow kept his heart in such a corrupt city.

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Rand Paul Very Optimistic About Repealing Obamacare After ...

Before huddling with members of the House Freedom Caucus Monday, Sen. Rand Paul said he was pushing President Donald Trump on a new construct for the repeal and replacement of the 2010 health care law.

Paul, a Kentucky Republican, suggested a possibility of keeping some subsidies in the 2010 law in place rather than replacing them with a new bundle of tax credits, a move that could keep conservatives from basically voting for new entitlements.

I think the compromise could be keeping some of the underlying things in Obamacare, some small percentage of them, in order to placate the people who want that, but not affirmatively putting in the bill and saying to conservatives you have to vote for a new federal refundable tax credit, a new entitlement program to many of the conservatives, Paul said.

It would be mostly a repeal bill, with the replacement aspect being that youre leaving some underlying law in place, Paul said.

That would be a departure from what Paul and the Freedom Caucus have pushed for recently. Earlier in March,Paul and House Freedom Caucus founding member Jim Jordan of Ohio pushed legislation in both chambers that would mirror the repeal bill that Congress passed through the budget reconciliation process in 2015 but that President Barack Obama vetoed.

GOP Divisions Haunt Health Care Effort

Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows of North Carolina endorsed separate votes: One on outright repeal of the 2010 law and a separate vote on a replacement package.

Pauls latest suggestion opened the door to not repealing key aspects of Obamas signature domestic achievement.

To conservatives minds, the replacement tax credits have simply been an entitlement program thats similar to Obamacare subsidies. Well, if theres $400 billion of new ones in [Speaker Paul D. Ryans] plan, why not leave $400 billion of Obamacare in place, Paul said. It could be exactly the same dollar amount, but its just not in the bill referring to creating something new that conservatives find objectionable.

Paul said while he came away from a Sunday round of golf with Trump and Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney thinking the White House was not yet looking for a new direction.

I think where they are still trying to make it work with what they have, Paul said. With very small tweaks to the existing bill.

I think really their opinion is they still want to work with what they have, Paul said.

Paul stressed he was not only talking to House and Senate conservatives, but also to the moderate Republican bloc that helped sink the bill in the House, including Tuesday Group Co-chairman Charlie Dent, R-Pa.

Were also trying to reach out to some other people, Paul said. I had a very good conversation with Charlie Dent today, talking what are some, you know, are there common areas?

I think there are one of two possibilities on health care, Paul said. I think theyre banging a square peg into a round hole right now. And thats what the bill is a square peg in a round hole. They either keep banging hard enough that they get the votes for it kind of as is, or we take a new approach, Paul said.

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Rand Paul Proffers Kinda, Sorta Obamacare Repeal, Replace - Roll Call

White House spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham confirmed that Trump was playing golf with Paul as well as White House budget director Mick Mulvaney at Trump National Golf Club in Potomac Falls, Virginia. It was the President's 14th trip to one of his courses in just over 10 weeks since taking office in January.

Grisham added that health care would be a big focus at discussions during the outing.

After the game was through, Paul told reporters he continued to be "very optimistic" about an agreement on repealing Obamacare, saying a deal was getting "closer and closer" and tweeting out the same.

The golf game with Paul came just more than a week after House Speaker Paul Ryan pulled the American Health Care Act, a Trump-backed bill that would repeal and replace major parts of Obamacare, from consideration on the floor of the chamber. Paul was among the most outspoken opponents of the bill, which he derided as "Obamacare lite."

The senator visited members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus to help shore up opposition to the bill. Trump has attacked the Freedom Caucus for its stance, calling out several of its members on Twitter.

In the immediate aftermath of the bill's collapse, Trump said he was moving on from health care until Obamacare "explodes."

But Sunday morning, shortly before Paul was seen joining the presidential motorcade, Trump tweeted that talks to repeal and replace Obamacare were still ongoing.

Separately, in an interview with the Financial Times done Friday and published Sunday, Trump said that, in the end, he didn't want to hold a vote on the first bill. After House Speaker Paul Ryan came to the White House a week ago Friday to inform the President bill the bill did not have the votes to pass, House leadership pulled the legislation.

"I don't like to lose, but that wasn't a definitive day," Trump said. "They are negotiating as we speak. I don't know if you know. They are negotiating right now. There was no reason to take a vote. I said, 'Don't take a vote,' and we will see what happens.

"But, one way or the other, I promised the people great health care," Trump said. "We are going to have great health care in his country. Now, it will be in one form or another. It will be a repeal and replace of Obamacare which is the deal that is being negotiated now. And if we don't get the ... Freedom Caucus there, that would be fine. ... [W]hen you have zero Democrats, zero, you need close to 100% of the Republicans".

For years, as he contemplated a presidential run, Trump criticized President Barack Obama for his golf outings, but in the 10 weeks since taking office, the former real-estate developer and reality TV star has played on his own courses numerous times. Sunday's trip marks the ninth weekend Trump has visited one of his namesake properties as President.

CNN's Dan Merica contributed to this report.

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Trump hits the links with Rand Paul, talks health care, WH says - CNN

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., (left), Mick Mulvaney, director of the Office of Management and Budget (center) and White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus (right) converse after returning to the White House from a round of golf with President Trump at his golf course, Trump National in Virginia on April 2, 2017.(Photo: Pool, Getty Images)

WASHINGTON Sen. Rand Paul was one of the key voices in urging House conservatives to vote against the Republican repeal and replace bill last month. But now the Kentucky senator is trying to convince the president and his Republican colleaguesto take another swing at repeal legislation.

Paul and Trump were partners Sunday at Trumps golf course in Virginia. The pair played against Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney and a businessman from Philadelphia. Theyultimately tied, but the real focus was on trying to figure out how to move forward on health care after the bills dramatic implosion last month.

My impression is that they very much still want to get something done on health care and I think so does everybody, Paul told a group of reporters in his Washington D.C. office Monday.

Now hes offering up a new approach that he thinks could bring the party together.

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Paul said that part of the issue with the House Republican plan to repeal Obamacare was that the different factions of the party couldnt come up with an agreement on how to replace it.

His proposal: Dont replace it.Instead, leave certain aspects in place and vote on a clean partial repeal.

I think the compromise could be keeping some of the underlying things in Obamacare, some small percentage of them in order to placate the people who want that but not affirmatively putting it in the bill and saying conservatives you have to vote for (things youre uncomfortable with), Paul said. Conservatives want 100 percent repeal, lets say moderates want 80 percentrepeal. Lets vote for 90 percentrepeal and be done with it.

Its a difference for conservatives of whether theyre voting for something new, replacement plan, versus leaving in place something that theyre not really for, Paul said.

Conservatives want 100 percent repeal, lets say moderates want 80 percent repeal. Lets vote for 90 percent repeal and be done with it.

Paul also hopes moderates will feel more comfortable voting for a repeal if they know that certain safety nets will be left in place under Obamacare.

Paul said he talked about his plan quite a bit at the golf course, but so far the White House isnt biting.

I think where they are is still trying to make it work with what they have and getting people to accept with what they have with very small tweaks to the existing bill, Paul said.

If they can get enough votes maybe it goes that way, but Im trying to offer a different way in case were still at impasse, he continued.

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On Monday, Paul met with Rep. Charlie Dent, a moderate Pennsylvania Republican who chairs Tuesday Group, to discuss areas of overlap with the different factions of the party. He said the conversation was very good.

Later Monday, he invited conservatives and members of the House Freedom Caucus a group of the three dozen hardline conservatives in the House critical to sinking the repeal and replace legislation to his office to hear his pitch.

Lawmakers who walked out werent immediately sold but did appreciate Pauls commitment to trying to find a solution.

Rep. Thomas Massie, a conservative who aligns with the Freedom Caucus on some issues but is not a member, attended the meeting and told reporters after that the piece by piece approach is similar to one he proposed last week to his party.

"I think you can chip away at Obamacare piece wise and his suggestion was not unlike not too unlike the suggestion I made to the conference last week," Massie told reporters after the meeting.

But he cautioned that Paul's plan still didn't address the fact that repealing certain regulations and leaving others in place could cause prices to go up.

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Sen. Rand Paul makes new health care pitch to Trump - The Courier-Journal

President Trump brought Republican Sen. Rand Paul to Trump National Golf Club in Virginia on Sunday to play golf with him, a little more than a week after the party's healthcare bill failed.

"They're discussing a variety of topics, including healthcare," White House deputy press secretary Stephanie Grisham said.

Budget director Mick Mulvaney, a former leading House conservative, also joined the two.

Paul had predicted in early March that the House bill would not pass the Senate. Instead, he proposed his own healthcare bill, though it was not taken up by Congress.

After Paul's comments, Trump took to Twitter to put pressure on the senator to support the healthcare bill.

"I feel sure that my friend @RandPaul will come along with the new and great health care program because he knows Obamacare is a disaster!" Trump wrote at the time.

Trump hinted earlier Sunday on Twitter that there's potential for Republicans to unify around healthcare. His tweet followed a week of attacks on the conservative House Freedom Caucus after the failure of the American Health Care Act.

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Trump takes Rand Paul on a golf outing to discuss healthcare - Washington Examiner