Rand Paul: Mike Pence has power to rule on contents of health care bill

Sen. Rand Paul said Wednesday he thinks Vice President Mike Pence has the power to possibly expand what Republicans can get into their first pass at legislation repealing parts of Obamacare but that he’s not sure the GOP has the “guts” to try it.

“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 in the Senate what is reconcilable,” Mr. Paul said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

Mr. Paul said that will happen “only if we have the guts to do it.”

“I don’t know that we have the guts to do it, but we can do it. We have the power to do it,” he said.

Proponents of the House GOP’s bill say that due to procedural constraints they’re working under, they can’t get everything they want into the first measure because when it comes before the Senate, there’s a risk that the parliamentarian would shoot things down if they’re not expressly budget-related.

But Mr. Paul said that according to the rules, the “chair” — and not the parliamentarian — has the power. In his capacity as vice president, Mr. Pence is also the president of the Senate.

“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 and he should say explicitly we’re getting rid of all of the Obamacare regulations, and we’re also going to replace it with buying groups so we have something positive we can offer,” Mr. Paul said.

Using a process called reconciliation, the Senate can pass budget-related legislation with a simple majority, rather than face a typical 60-vote threshold to overcome a filibuster. Republicans currently hold an effective 52-48 majority.

Republicans say the American Health Care Act, expected to come to the House floor Thursday, is just the first step and that more expansive legislation is to come in a separate phase.

But Mr. Paul predicted that that the first House bill will get pulled before a Thursday vote.

“Conservatives don’t want to stop repeal — we want a real repeal, but we also want a seat at the table,” he said.