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The AHCA has been dubbed Obamacare Lite by Paul a leading conservative critic of the plan and by other conservatives as RyanCare, RINO-Care, and Obamacare 2.0, since the bill does not actually fully repeal Obamacare and keeps many of the main structures that the now-former President Barack Obama installed in the healthcare system. It has come under intense scrutiny from both sides of the Republican Party moderates and conservatives are lining up against the bill and Ryan, despite publicly projecting confidence, cannot find the necessary 216 votes to pass the legislation.

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Paul, one of the leading senators out of more than a dozen Republicans in the upper chamber criticizing the bill there, told Breitbart News in this exclusive interview he believes there are at least 35 House Republicans ready to vote against the bill in its current form. And he predicted that, unless some major changes come to the legislation between now and the scheduled vote on Thursday, Ryan will need to withdraw the bill and Republicans will have to start from scratch with a new bill and a new strategy on Obamacare.

Paul said in the in-person interview athis U.S. Senate office in the Russell Senate Office Building:

I think theres easily 35 no votes right now so unless something happens in the next 24 hours, I would predict they pull the bill and start over. I think if conservatives stick together, they will have earned a seat at the table where real negotiation to make this bill an acceptable bill will happen. But its interesting what conservatives are doing to change the debate. We went from keeping the Obamacare taxes for a yearhundreds of billions of dollarsbut theyre coming towards us because were standing firm. So we have to stick together, and if we do stick together there will be a real negotiation on this. The main goal I have is not to pass something that does not fix the situation. If a year from now, insurance rates and premiums are still going through the roof and its now a Republican plan it will be a disservice to the president and all of us if we pass something that doesnt work.

There is plenty of reason to believe that Paul is correct in predicting Ryan does not have the votes to pass this legislation and will need to pull the bill to start over. Despite overtures from President Donald Trump, the House Freedom Caucus members and particularly its chairman Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC) remain steadfastly opposed to the bill.

NBC News has confirmed at least 26 Republicans who are opposed:

But Breitbart News can confirm several more than that are definitely opposed to the legislation. To kill the bill, Republicans need just 21 Republicans opposedand some are talking about holding a press conference on Wednesday or Thursday with the necessary number of House Republicans to crush RyanCare, appearing arm-in-arm in public opposition before a vote.

House GOP leadership made some last minute changes, too, whichPaul in his interview with Breitbart News flatly said no, were not enough to get the bill passed. Regarding those changed, Paul said:

If you keep all the insurance mandates, and you keep subsidizing insurance, basically its Obamacare Lite. So I think its still Obamacare Lite. The modifications, some are going in the right direction, but they actually expanded some of the subsidies. So one of the new things about it is its actually $75 billion more in subsidies. So, I think theyre stuck trying to split the baby. Theyre trying to give conservatives a few token changes. And theyre trying to give the moderates more subsidies.

Paul added that Ryan would not have dragged President Trump into this awful position if he had been more open and inclusive in the process from the beginning. In effect, Paul argued as he has done before, that Ryan is hurting President Trump by doing this the way he is doing it. Paul said:

Im still unclear as to why they completely ignored conservatives early on in the process and then they had the audacity to look at conservatives and say this is what you all campaigned on. That just, frankly, was never true. I was elected in 2010 in the big Tea Party wave that was for repealing Obamacare root and branch, rip the whole thing out. We were for repealing it. I still think that our grassroots conservative supporters are for repealing it. But somewhere along the line, Paul Ryan decided that it wasnt so much about repealing it but about replacing it with Obamacare Lite. And I think that was a tactical error on their part to think oh, well just be for this and everybody will be for this when in reality no conservatives are really for the Ryan plan.

Paul would not say if Ryan will lose the confidence necessary to run the House of Representatives if this bill fails, as some have suggested. When asked if Ryan can still run the House if the bill goes down, Paul told Breitbart News that instead he thinks the bill going down would lead to real negotiations on healthcare reform. He said:

I think what it will be is the real negotiations will begin the moment his bill fails, and when his bill fails conservatives will have a seat at the table. As long as conservatives stay unified and dont start negotiating one person at a time whats a really bad part of negotiations is if everybody starts saying individually oh if you give me this, give me this, give me this because then you wont really fix the main thrust of the bill and the main outcome is that insurance premiums continue to rise and we continue to bail out insurance companies thats not repeal of Obamacarethats Obamacare Lite.

More from Sen. Rand Pauls latest exclusive interview with Breitbart News is forthcoming.

Read more here:
Exclusive Rand Paul: Easily 35 No Votes Against Paul Ryan ...

Sen. Rand Paul is holding up a popular treaty ratifying Montenegro's membership in NATO. | AP Photo

Rand Paul is at it again.

Its not enough for the Kentucky Republican to try to tank House Speaker Paul Ryans Obamacare repeal bill. Hes also driving his Senate colleagues crazy by holding up the one thing the Senate could do to quickly rebuke Russian President Vladimir Putin: pass a popular treaty ratifying Montenegros membership in NATO.

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The dispute exploded on the Senate floor this month as Paul blocked Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) from bringing up the treaty. McCain said Paul is working for Putin; Paul responded that McCain is past his prime. But the anger toward Paul goes much deeper than just McCain nearly the entire Senate wants to pass the treaty immediately.

Its a minority position, yeah, Paul conceded with a smile.

Thats an understatement.

Senators and aides said the treaty could be passed easily if Paul would release his hold, sending a swift message to Russia that the United States isnt stepping away from Eastern Europe, even with a NATO skeptic like Donald Trump as president. While Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) is demanding a roll-call vote rather than passing the treaty with a quick request to do so unanimously, Paul is far more implacable and doesnt want it to move forward at all.

Montenegro doesnt add a great deal to the national security of the United States, Paul said in an interview. For people who want Montenegro [in NATO], many of them want Ukraine and Georgia in there. And I think if you do that you have to be prepared to go to war with Russia.

Due to Senate rules, Paul can single-handedly force the chamber to spend days on the measure, an impossible feat in the short term since Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is prioritizing a Supreme Court nominee and Obamacare repeal this spring.

That leaves the treaty stalled indefinitely and his colleagues steamed.

He knows the vote will be 99-1, said one angry Republican senator who requested anonymity to speak candidly about his colleague. He could hold the floor for days. I just think its typical.

Its not a stunt. I disagree with him. But these are things he really believes, said Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who champions a more interventionist foreign policy.

Notably, McCains charge that Paul is a Putin lapdog could have been a violation of Senate rules but only if raised by another senator. No one came to his defense last week.

But Paul is unmoved, and said his message is in line with Trumps: Adding another country to overextended NATO is unproductive when other countries arent meeting their defense spending obligations. Trump hasnt commented publicly on the issue, but his administration may be lining up against Paul.

Secretary of Defense James Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson fully support Montenegros accession into NATO. Sources said Vice President Mike Pence is also close to issuing a recommendation. Ousted national security adviser Michael Flynn was close to backing Montenegros entrance into NATO before he resigned.

An administration official said no final decision has been made. However, a Senate source said some White House officials have indicated support for Pauls move to block NATO expansion because it is in line with Trumps campaign platform.

It was very useful what Sen. McCain did, said Montenegrin Foreign Minister Srdjan Darmanovi, who is in Washington meeting with Senate Foreign Relations Committee members and administration officials. Sen. McCain exposed Sen. Paul being a very stubborn obstacle in the ratification.

For Paul, its just one more example of him against the world. And these days its hard to keep track of his simultaneous fights.

Republicans close to GOP leaders in both chambers are highly annoyed at Pauls high-profile quest to sink Ryans health care bill, which Paul calls Obamacare-lite every chance he gets. And while Democrats are entertained by his criticism of the Obamacare repeal efforts, theyre less enthused with his position on NATO.

Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) is also frustrated over the treatys delay, sources said, but is trying to work with Paul and declining to call out the senator publicly. Paul has also been blocking several international tax treaties with other countries favored by his colleagues for years.

Although some lawmakers are pushing for new Russian sanctions legislation, Montenegros accession to NATO is more doable in the near term. But McConnell, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Paul have been unable to come to a deal and the Montenegro treaty could easily slip into the summer if Paul holds firm given the crowded calendar.

Its unfortunate. Wed like to see it done now, said Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. This is a Republican fight, but we have the overwhelming majority of Republicans that are supporting it.

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Meanwhile, Montenegros future is hanging in the balance as Russia asserts increasing influence in the small Balkan nation. Montenegro has spent more than seven years applying for NATO membership and the vast majority of NATO countries have approved the countrys acceptance into the alliance. The United States is one of the few left to endorse it.

NATO accession remains a highly controversial issue inside Montenegro. An opinion poll conducted in December 2016 has only 39.5 percent of Montenegrins in favor of NATO membership and 39.7 against. Russia has taken advantage of this division by bankrolling Montenegros Democratic Front, a stridently anti-NATO party that won 20 percent of the vote in parliamentary elections.

For Montenegro, time is of the essence. The longer the country remains out of NATOs protective orbit, the more opportunities Putin has to meddle in the countrys internal affairs. The delay also hurts the stature of NATO and the United States, senators said.

You tell them: Go through these steps youre going to be able to become part of our alliance. And they do and then you cant [add them], it undermines the credibility of the alliance, Rubio said. Thats why I think you have 98 people that feel strong about it.

Cardin said Paul wants a vote on one of his isolationist-leaning priorities in return for moving forward. The Kentucky Republican is a master of using the Senate floor for leverage, holding up popular items until he receives votes on priorities like slashing spending on foreign aid or obtaining information from government officials. But he said thats not the case this time.

I dont know that we necessarily need [to send] a provocative message to Russia on Montenegro, Paul said. Im holding it because of the issue. Im not in favor of expanding NATO beyond what we have.

Originally posted here:
Rand Paul's latest lonely fight incenses fellow senators ...

The proposal -- which has also drawn support from Sen. Ted Cruz -- purports to ease passage of a more expansive Obamacare replacement bill by foregoing traditional Senate rules and seating Vice President Mike Pence as Senate chair for the vote.

Paul argued that with Pence as chair, he would be empowered to make decisions about what can be passed through budget reconciliation, a procedural distinction that has a simple majority-vote-threshold. That would allow Republicans to bypass the larger, 60-vote requirement that would otherwise be required to repeal and replace key components of the Affordable Care Act -- a major roadblock.

Paul -- who opposes the current GOP health care bill moving through the House -- said Wednesday on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" that leadership "is afraid of the Senate parliamentarian. But we've read the rules, and it looks to us like the vice president can sit in the chair, and the vice president can decide for the Senate what is reconcilable."

He explained, "the rules, the budget rules that everyone touts and are so arcane, they say the chair rules, and not the parliamentarian. The chair rules. The vice president has the prerogative of sitting in the chair, and if they want this done, the vice president should come to the Senate."

Paul's proposal comes as Republicans are under growing pressure to pass an Obamacare repeal bill -- but divisions within the party, a slim Senate majority, and legislative procedure have complicated those efforts.

Lacking large enough majorities in Congress to pass outright repeal, GOP leadership has sold Obamacare repeal and replacement as a three-phase plan, with partial repeal now and other key changes left for later.

The problem is that many of those key changes that are left for later will still require 60 votes in the Senate, which could take multiple election cycles to achieve -- something Paul's proposal purports to solve.

On MSNBC, he said that phase three of leadership's plan "is never going to happen," and argued that Republicans could instead achieve repeal and replace simultaneously with Pence, seated as Senate chair, declaring that a more expansive version of the bill is reconcilable.

Still, such a move would be a dramatic break from the way Senate rules have traditionally been observed, and could set an irrevocable precedent for legislating akin to "nuking" the filibuster for some Senate nominees. Paul seemed to acknowledge that his proposal faced long odds.

"Do you believe that is something that could happen?" asked "Morning Joe" host Willie Geist.

"Only if we have the guts to do it, and I don't know if we have the guts to do it," Paul replied.

Read more:
Rand Paul: Bring Pence to Senate to repeal Obamacare - CNN

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.

Read the rest here:
Rand Paul roils the Senate with NATO blockade | TheHill - The Hill

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.

See the original post here:
Rand Paul: I hope the GOP pulls back the health care bill today - Politico