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Tags: rand paul | ted cruz | nuclear | obamacare | repeal

Sens. Paul, Cruz to Push Senate Rule Limits to Repeal Obamacare

Sens. Paul, Cruz to Push Senate Rule Limits to Repeal Obamacare
(AP)

By    |   Tuesday, 16 May 2017 08:49 AM EDT

Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Ted Cruz, R-Texas, are aiming to push the limits of Senate rules in an attempt to dismantle Obamacare through reconciliation, Politico is reporting. 

The Senate parliamentarian — Elizabeth MacDonough, a nonpartisan staff member —handles questions about the reconciliation's impact on the budget.

Cruz and Paul argue that the person presiding over the Senate can make the call to allow reconciliation to proceed, to remove pieces of Obamacare or to start up new healthcare policy such as insurers being allowed to sell across state lines.

Vice President Mike Pence could be presiding over the Senate at the time Cruz and Paul call to proceed and he might be more likely to agree to their plan, Politico notes.

"The original law says the chair decides — it doesn't say anything about the parliamentarian," Paul said, according to Politico.

Other Republicans, however, are not on board with Cruz and Paul's idea.

"I don't think it's the best approach, and I think there would be resistance to that. It's tempting, but it's the proverbial slippery slope," Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi told Politico.

Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona told the website: "There's always loose talk about overruling the parliamentarian. I can't see supporting that."

Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and John Thune of South Dakota also said the Senate rules could not be sidestepped, Politico reports.

Paul and Cruz would need 50 or 51 votes to go along with any ruling that Pence would make, and Cruz said he does not expect Democrats to agree with any Republican plan, so Republicans need to use reconciliation to pass regulations and legislation in "buckets."

"We're not getting eight Democrats on anything. So what I've been urging for the past several months is to take everything in bucket three and everything in bucket two and put it in bucket one. That the only thing passing is reconciliation," the Texas senator said, according to Politico.

Cruz appears to be more willing to work with more centrist Republicans in the Senate to push through an Obamacare overhaul, The Wall Street Journal reports. 

"It's a 'you live long enough, anything can happen' moment," Sen. Lindsey Graham told the Journal. 

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Politics
Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Ted Cruz, R-Texas, are aiming to push the limits of Senate rules in an attempt to dismantle Obamacare through reconciliation, Politico is reporting.
rand paul, ted cruz, nuclear, obamacare, repeal
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2017-49-16
Tuesday, 16 May 2017 08:49 AM
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