Paul, who discussed health care with President Donald Trump while playing golf Sunday, suggested keeping certain Obamacare provisions in place to placate those who support the refundable tax credits in the legislation while protecting conservatives from voting in favor of what they consider to be a new entitlement program.
But Sunday morning, shortly before Paul was seen joining the presidential motorcade, Trump tweeted that talks to repeal and replace Obamacare were still ongoing.
Paul later emphasized his upbeat mood on the subject, telling reporters that "We had a great day with the president".
Mr. Paul also pitched the idea to members of the House Freedom Caucus - the conservatives who helped sink the repeal effort last month.
This is published unedited from the IANS feed.
Paul said he talked about his plan "quite a bit" at the golf course, but so far the White House isn't biting.
Trump took to Twitter on Thursday to call out Jordan, the former chairman of the conservative House group, as well as its current leader, Mark Meadows of North Carolina and fellow member Raul Labrador of Idaho over their opposition to the now-defunct GOP plan.
Those Obamacare backers said that after the failure of the GOP's repeal, which would have severely curtailed the Medicaid expansion, it made sense for holdout states to sign up.
Eddie Murphy pays tribute to brother Charlie following his death, aged 57
The performer's wife, Tisha Taylor Murphy , died from cervical cancer in December 2009. "I loved Charlie Murphy ". This is probably one of Murphy's most well-known stories about his love-hate relationship with Rick James .
But the not-so-veiled threats by the president are likely to have little impact in these conservative districts, where most members easily outperformed Trump and, instead, would have faced more viable primary threats from the right if they had backed the deeply unpopular Obamacare bill. The White House had no immediate comment.
It began with frustration over the defeat of the Republican Healthcare plan, when the President slammed the Freedom Caucus during the week in a tweet, saying they were standing in the way of the Republican agenda.
"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 numerous conservatives", Paul said.
The GOP now seems torn among three factions: The Freedom Caucus types, establishment Republicans of the Cantor (and House Speaker Paul Ryan) variety, and Trump sycophants. "What if we do things they don't like?"
On Saturday, Dan Scavino, the White House's director of social media escalated the already tense situation when he urged Republicans to challenge Rep. Justin Amash, R-Mich., in his upcoming primary election. Freedom Caucus members say that removing these regulations would allow the sale of lower-cost health care plans but their critics say that they are critical to providing better quality health care. It said Scavino created an official account after he started working at the White House "to ensure compliance with the Hatch Act and he has taken the necessary steps to ensure there is a clear distinction between both Twitter accounts".
For years, Trump railed against Obama for golfing when he was in office.
President Trump will "make a deal with the Democrats" if Republicans can't get their way on healthcare.
Comments