Kentuckian Rand Paul is among a small but growing and potentially pivotal group of Republican senators who say the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act should be replaced at the same time it is repealed. He says doing that in a budget resolution, the only way around the Senate's 60-vote requirement for most major votes, would add too much to the federal budget deficit and the national debt.
“Everybody is hot and heavy to vote on this budget because they want to repeal Obamacare,” Paul said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," after revealing his stand to The Wall Street Journal. “But the budget they’re going to introduce will add $8.8 trillion to the debt over the next 10 years. So I told them look, I’m not going to vote for a budget that never balances.”
“Everybody is hot and heavy to vote on this budget because they want to repeal Obamacare,” Paul said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," after revealing his stand to The Wall Street Journal. “But the budget they’re going to introduce will add $8.8 trillion to the debt over the next 10 years. So I told them look, I’m not going to vote for a budget that never balances.”
Paul later said he would support repeal under any conditions, and Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton expressed similar views. But Sen. Susan Collins of Maine "wants Republicans to both repeal and replace the law at the same time," and both Tennessee senators have said likewise.
The latest was Bob Corker, who said Friday that it "would be best for our country to go ahead and replace it with something that works and repeal at the same time." Corker "noted that President-elect Donald Trump voiced support during the campaign for moving the two together and told '60 Minutes' in November that he backed repealing and replacing ObamaCare simultaneously," Jordain Carney reports for The Hill. Corker said, "I think the president-elect's position is the right position."
Paul tweeted Friday that he had just spoken with Trump, "and he fully supports my plan to replace Obamacare the same day we repeal it." But Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway said on CNN's "State of the Union" said only that "He is committed to replacing Obamacare with something that actually is affordable and accessible and allows you to buy health insurance over state lines and allows people to have health savings accounts."
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky can afford only two dissenters in his Republican caucus, because it has 52 senators and 50 votes are needed to pass a budget resolution, with a tie-breaking vote from Mike Pence after he becomes vice president and president of the Senate.
The latest was Bob Corker, who said Friday that it "would be best for our country to go ahead and replace it with something that works and repeal at the same time." Corker "noted that President-elect Donald Trump voiced support during the campaign for moving the two together and told '60 Minutes' in November that he backed repealing and replacing ObamaCare simultaneously," Jordain Carney reports for The Hill. Corker said, "I think the president-elect's position is the right position."
Paul tweeted Friday that he had just spoken with Trump, "and he fully supports my plan to replace Obamacare the same day we repeal it." But Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway said on CNN's "State of the Union" said only that "He is committed to replacing Obamacare with something that actually is affordable and accessible and allows you to buy health insurance over state lines and allows people to have health savings accounts."
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky can afford only two dissenters in his Republican caucus, because it has 52 senators and 50 votes are needed to pass a budget resolution, with a tie-breaking vote from Mike Pence after he becomes vice president and president of the Senate.
Asked about Paul and Obamacare Sunday on CBS's "Face the Nation," McConnell said he hadn't seen a replacement plan from Paul but said Congress would pass one "rapidly." he declined to be more specific.
from Kentucky Health News http://ift.tt/2iTqW5v
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