U.S. Senator and physician Rand Paul was joined by Senators Mike Lee (R-UT) and Ted Cruz (R-TX) in taking a firm, public stand to declare they would accept nothing less than full repeal of Obamacare.
In an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper, Dr Paul said, “We don’t want to keep Obamacare alive. We don’t want to add in new subsidies or new entitlement programs.
“Look, the government’s broke. We borrow a million dollars a minute, so we want to completely repeal Obamacare and we want to replace it with something — market reforms — that will lower the cost of health insurance for everyone.
“But we’re not just going along with whatever they try to shove down our throats. We’re going to be a big part of this. Conservatives will be listened to or there won’t be a repeal.”
On Monday, Paul, Lee and Cruz stated their opposition to anything other than full repeal in coordinated tweets:
“Congress must keep its word. We were elected to fully repeal and replace Obamacare, and that’s the only thing I will vote for,” said Sen. Paul. “The legislation brought to the Senate floor must at least match the standard set by the 2015 repeal bill that both chambers of Congress passed.”
The senators’ stand, coupled with that of members of the U.S. House Freedom Caucus and Republican Study Committee, demonstrates that conservatives will not lie down and just accept anything under the banner of repealing Obamacare.
In addition, Senator Paul and the U.S. House Freedom Caucus have united to put forward a substantive, free-market based Obamacare Replacement Act, which they are urging Congress to vote on at the same time as repeal.
