Sen. Rand Paul, one of the GOP holdouts on the Senate health care bill, said Sunday he would be willing to support a partial rollback of Obamacare, saying he might even vote for an 80 percent repeal.
“If they cannot get 50 votes, if they get to impasse, I’ve been telling leadership for months now I’ll vote for a repeal,” the Kentucky Republican said on ABC’s “This Week.”
“And it doesn’t have to be 100 percent repeal,” said Mr. Paul. “So, for example, I’m for 100 percent repeal, that’s what I want. But if you offer me 90 percent repeal, I’d probably would vote it. I might vote for 80 percent repeal.”
Mr. Paul, one of four Senate conservatives who oppose the Better Care Reconciliation Act in its current form, said would change his mind “if they change their approach.”
“Why don’t we whittle it down to what the whole caucus agrees on?” said Mr. Paul. “I think there’s a bill that all 52 Republicans agree on if they keep narrowing the focus.”
Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer said the bill’s chances of passing are 50-50, insisting that Democrats would do “everything we can to fight this bill, because it’s so devastating for the middle class.”
He urged Republicans to work with Democrats by “stop sabotaging Obamacare” and giving up the effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
“[S]it down and work with us. We have ideas. You have ideas,” said Mr. Schumer, New York Democrat. “Stop, you can’t repeal Obamacare.”
Mr. Paul said Republicans should “go ahead and repeal the things Democrats will never do.”
“Democrats will never repeal a tax and they’ll never repeal a regulation,” Mr. Paul said. “And those are two things that are messing up the marketplace.”
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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