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MSNBCs Casey Hunt caught up with Senator Rand Paul in the halls of the Capitol Building this morning to ask his quick thoughts on the Senate version of the GOP Healthcare bill just released.

Paul was an initial and vocal critic of the House health care bill, and it appears that he is also frustrated with the version presented by his Senate colleagues, telling Hunt looks like were keeping Obamacare, not repealing it.

Why is this short and seemingly throw-away line so important? Well the GOP Senate has only the slightest of room to pass this bill as it will take only three Republican senators to vote against it to kill this version. Judging from Pauls comments, it appears that he will not be voting for this iteration of the bill.

The Libertarian leaning Kentucky Senator has promised a statement shortly.

Watch the clip above via MSNBC.

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Rand Paul on GOP Healthcare Bill: 'Looks Like We're Keeping Obamacare' - Mediaite

Ron Sachs/dpa/picture-alliance/NewscomHere's a novel idea. Members of Congress should have time to readfully read, from start to finishthe text of a bill before being asked to vote on it.

Frustrated by a secretive process for rewritting the House's health care bill, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said Wednesday that he would reintroduce a resolution requiring the Senate to give its members sufficient time to read lengthy bills before they could be called upon to cast votes. His "Read the Bills" resolution would change Senate rules to require bills and amendments to be filed for one day per 20 pages before they could be considered, giving lawmakers time to digest legislation before giving their vote.

"Legislation is too often shoved through Congress without proper hearings, amendments, or debate, as the secrecy surrounding the Senate's health care bill and the pressure to vote for it with little time to fully evaluate the proposal once again remind us," Paul said in an emailed statement Wednesday.

The Senate version of the American Health Care Act (AHCA) is expected to be unveiled later today, after weeks of secretive work behind closed doors to draft changes to the bill. (UPDATE: The bill has been released. Read Peter Suderman's coverage of it here.)

As passed by the House, the AHCA is 131 pages long. Under Paul's proposed resolution, a 131-page bill would require a period of at least seven days between when it was filed and when it could be voted. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has promised there won't be a vote until next week, but the Senate version of the bill is likely to grow longer, perhaps much longer, than the House-passed version as amendments are added. For context, the final version of the Affordable Care Act was more than 900 pages long when it was passed in 2010.

"If we are to answer to the American people, it is imperative we pay close attention to the legislation we pass," Paul said.

Paul isn't the only member of the upper chamber to be rankled by the secretive, rushed legislating. Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, and Mike Lee of Utah have expressed concerns about having enough time to read and understand the bill before an expected vote next week. "Even though we thought we were going to be in charge of writing a bill within this working group, it's not being written by us," Lee told Bloomberg News earlier this week. "So if you're frustrated by the lack of transparency in this process, I share your frustration. I share it wholeheartedly."

With 52 Republicans in the Senate, it would take three defectors to block the bill's passage.

Paul is the most likely to jump ship. In addition to his complaints about the process, Paul has been openly dissatisfied the substance of the AHCA since it was first introduced by House Republicans in March, criticizing the bill for not going far enough to repeal taxes and regulatory mandates created under Obamacare. The tax credits included in the billa replacement for Obamacare's subsidies to help low-income Americans afford insurancehave been specifically targeted by Paul as "a new entitlement program."

"My main concern is I promised voters that I would repealvote to repeal Obamacare. And everything I hear sounds like Obamacare-lite," Paul told The Washington Post on Wednesday.

Despite months of criticism of the bill, Paul has not taken an official position on whether he will support it. He told Bloomberg News earlier this week that he would make that decision after seeing the text of the bill.

He will likely get to see it on Thursday. Whether he has time to read the whole thing remains to be seen.

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Frustrated with Secretive Health Care Bill, Rand Paul Proposes Giving Senators Time to Read It - Reason (blog)

US Senator Rand Paul has spoken out during the debate on war powers, saying that the current wars the US is leading are illegal, and that he isnt voting to go to war in 50 or 60 countries where terrorist powers are now based.

The hearing during which Rand Paul spoke out was the latest one in a yearlong string of debates over what to do with the open-ended 9/11 Proclamation on war authorization.

The divide between the members of Congress over the issue has been growing, with some using this debate for the singular purpose of imposing limitations on our president its just a fact, according to Republican Senator Bob Corker, while others may refuse to limit a president at war in any way.

Paul first of all argued about the role and specifics of Article II of the US Constitution, detailing the presidents duties as commander-in-chief.

He said that the founding fathers of the US George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin among them would disagree with you on saying that Article II gives the president power to commence in war, instead listing it as congressional duty, not presidents at all.

I want to know, are we going to limit the president's power? Are we going to take back our power? Are we going to limit the duration of the war? Are we going to identify our enemy? Paul asked during the statement.

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To lead a war against terrorism at least the way the US might see it is becoming less and less acceptable, Paul said.

Well, just the Islamic State [IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL] is in 32 countries right now. I mean, you add in Taliban and you add in Al-Qaeda, we're probably [talking about] at least 50 or 60 countries. I'm not voting to go to war in 50 or 60 countries.

Thus, there should be a strict and specific limitation for war powers, Paul argued, saying that if they pass something for the sake of it, and not to limit the war powers, it wouldnt be acceptable.

Some people, Paul noted, say that you got all the Article II, and it would just be nice to have an AUMF [Authorization of Use of Military Force].

No, it wouldn't be nice. That's the Constitution. There's supposed to be no war without an AUMF. We have been illegally at war for a long time now. This is illegal war, at this point, he said.

Another key document related to the war powers that is mentioned by Paul is the 9/11 Proclamation, which was very specific to 9/11, and weve had people just saying, you can do anything you want now for 15 years.

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However, there is a practical question related to this, Paul noted.

Is doing anything you want, killing every perceived enemy and every perceived leader or chieftain of five people in some misbegotten village, is it helping?

He gave an example of US forces killing four or five terrorists in a village, but also killing their wives and children: Is it better? Do we have less terrorists now or more?

For a hundred years they'll be talking about the time the Americans came and killed women and children. For a hundred years, they're going to be talking about the Saudis dropping bombs on a funeral procession. That does not go away. These people remember the battle of Karbala in 680AD. They have long memories, Paul said.

We're not going to defeat terrorism by having war in 60-some odd countries and dropping drones on everybody that we think in a village is of a radical ideology. And I just say now, I won't vote for something that doesn't limit the president's power, but simply gives a rubber stamp to what we're doing, the senator concluded.

Originally posted here:
America illegally at war for a long time now US Senator Rand Paul ... - RT

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) announced this afternoon that a "discussion draft" of the rushed, flawed, and secretive Senate version of the American Health Care Act will be unveiled Thursday, in advance of a hoped-for vote a week hence, on June 29. "Oh they'll have plenty of time" [to read the bill], McConnell said. "This will be about as transparent as it can be." Uh-huh.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky), long considered the most likely Republican "no" vote, did not sound enthused about the legislation today. While stressing that he'll decide only after reading the bill, Paul reiterated in remarks recorded by Bloomberg News political reporter Sahil Kapur that he's "not interested in voting for anything that's a new entitlement program," and that it might be better to "start over." More from Paul:

The House bill has 90 percent of the subsidies of Obamacare.If this gets any more subsidies in it, it may well be equal to what we have in Obamacare. So it really wouldn't be repeal. []

I think they've forgotten all the rallies where they said they were going to repeal it. I mean, we had thousands of people standing up and cheering us on saying they were going to repeal it. And now they've gotten kind of weak-kneed and I think they want to keep it. But they're getting hit from both sides. Conservatives who are in the know are going to know that this isn't repeal. And no Democrat likes it because they think it's going to go too far. So I think you're going to wind up with what you had in the House billabout 20 percent of the public's going to think it's a good idea.

The other most likely "no" vote has always been Paul's pal Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), who, while also keeping his vote open, said in a Facebook video today that:

Even though I've been a member of this working group among Senate Republicans assigned to help narrow some of the focus of this, I haven't seen the bill....And it has become increasingly apparent in the last few days that even though we thought we were going to be in charge of writing a bill within this working group, it's not being written by us, it's apparently being written by a small handful of staffers for members of the Republican leadership in the Senate....We should have been able to see it weeks ago if we were going to voting on it next week.

But even if Lee and Paul revolt, as many have been predicting, the unpopular bill still needs one more Republican hand on the steely knife to kill the beast. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), while mocking Democratic complaints about process, said Tuesday the legislation still has "got a long way to go." Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), a key moderate, said, "I would like a more open process, that's for sure," and: "I cannot say what I would vote for if I haven't seen it.That's where a real problem is, because nobody I shouldn't say that." And Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona) quipped that, "I'm sure the Russians have been able to hack in and gotten most of it."

Peter Suderman earlier today floated various theories for Republicans' odd AHCA behavior.

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Rand Paul, Mike Lee Rip into Health Care Bill, Which Is Now Expected Thursday - Reason (blog)

SHEPHERDSVILLE, Ky.

Sen. Rand Paul made his first trip to Kentucky since last week's shooting at a congressional baseball practice.

Paul was in Alexandria, Virginia, when a gunman opened fire, injuring a congressman and four others.

Paul returned to Kentucky Monday to tour Gordon Food Service, in Shepherdsville. While there, he took time to talk about the shooting and the game that followed.

"We usually have 4,000, 5,000, 6,000 people," Paul said. "We had 25,000 people there."

Paul told WLKY that last week's congressional baseball game showed that the actions of many outweigh the actions of one.

"We played the game, and people really did come together in the sense that we were set to raise $600,000 dollars for charity in one day and it went up to $1.5 million," Paul said.

Republicans and Democrats played the game just days after a gunman open fired as Paul and other lawmakers practiced.

"It's something nobody can really plan for," Pauls said. "I woke up in the morning going to baseball, a good American pastime, and had a person shooting at us."

Republican U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise was among the victims.

The gunman was shot and killed.

Paul said he has spoken with some of the victims since the shooting.

"I saw one of the real heroes and that was a Capitol Hill policeman, who really probably saved 20 people's lives," Paul said. "It would have been just a disaster had he not been there. Both of them. There was a man and a woman."

Paul said their heroism reminds him that the vast majority of people are good.

"You have to keep telling yourself that," Paul said. "It's a little harder when you've experienced something like that."

The senator will be back in Washington next week and said he hopes to meet with Scalise.

When asked about security, Paul told WLKY that his team already has increased security. It did that in 2011 following the shooting of U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords in Tucson, Arizona.

WEBVTT HEPHERDSVILLE,AND TOOK TIME TO TALK ABOUT LASTWEEK'S SHOOTING.WE USUALLY GET 4000, 5000PEOPLE, BUT WE HAD 25,000.REPORTER: SENATOR PAUL SAYS LASTWEEK'S CONGRESSIONAL BASEBALLGAME SHOWED THAT THE ACTIONS OFMANY OUTWEIGH THE ACTIONS OFONE.>> WE PLAYED THE GAME AND PEOPLEREALLY DID COME TOGETHER IN THESENSE THAT WE WERE SET TO RAISE$600,000 FOR CHARITY, AND IN ONEDAY, AND WHEN UP TO 1.5 FAMILYDOLLARS.REPORTER -- $1.5 MILLION.REPORTER: REPUBLICANS ANDDEMOCRATS PLAYED THAT GAME JUSTDAYS AFTER A GUNMAN OPEN FIREDAS PAUL AND OTHER LAWMAKERSPRACTICED IN ALEXANDRIA,VIRGINIA.>> IT IS SOMETHING NO ONE CANPLAN FOR.I WOKE UP EARLY IN THE MORNINGTO GO PLAY BASEBALL, ANDAMERICAN PASTIME, AND THEN THEREWAS A SHOOTING.REPORTER: REPUBLICAN CONGRESSMANSTEVE SCALISE AND FOUR OTHERSWERE HURT.THE GUNMAN WAS SHOT AND KILLED.SENATOR RAND PAUL SAYS HE HASSPOKEN WITH SOME OF THE VICTIMSSINCE.>> I SAW ONE OF THE REAL HEROES,A CAPITOL POLICE MAN, WHOPROBABLY SAVE 20 PEOPLE.THERE WAS A MAN AND A WOMAN.REPORTER: PAUL SAYS THEIRHEROISM REMINDS HIM THAT THEVAST MAJORITY OF PEOPLE AREGOOD.SOMETHING HE SAYS WAS EVIDENT ATLAST WEEK'S GAME.

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Sen. Rand Paul discusses congressional baseball shooting - WLKY Louisville