opinion

I didn’t give that 'team' my soul or my ideology | Rand Paul

Apparently, there is a new source of fake news that the Courier-Journal's recent columnist frequently reads. Because the accuracy of his account of what happened last month during our efforts to repeal Obamacare is laughable at best, and egregiously misleading at worst.

For the record, yes, I do belong to a “team” in politics. I ran as a Republican. I caucus as a Republican. I vote for people sometimes because, while I have misgivings, in general, they believe similar things.

But I didn’t give that “team” my soul or my ideology. I join with them when I agree, or when I don’t have a strong opinion. I go against them plenty of times, such as on privacy and civil liberties, and, all too often, unconstitutional war.

Let me be clear – when I took office, I didn’t swear an oath to my “team.” No, that oath was to uphold the Constitution, and I’m pretty positive bailing out insurance companies wasn’t envisioned in that document.

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But more importantly, I have to be who I am and who I told the people who supported me I would be. I told them I’d repeal Obamacare. I told them I’d vote for more capitalism and free markets in health care to finally fix a system that has been getting worse my entire adult life.

I told them that if nothing else, they could always count on me to stand up for what I believe, to stand for principle, and to do what I said I would.

While Bob Heleringer focuses his comments on why I didn’t vote for the deeply flawed Senate leadership bill (which wasn’t actually a repeal, because it kept most of the Obamacare regulations and taxes, plus insurance company bailouts to the tune of $200 billion), his omission of the events that followed is a blatant attempt to mislead.

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He conveniently leaves out the fact that I actually kept my promise on voting to repeal Obamacare, and because it probably is more conducive to his narrative, he also omits that I was the one to introduce the full clean repeal bill during these efforts. I voted for it, and I voted for the subsequent repeal bills and efforts to eliminate Obamacare taxes and mandates that day.

Repeal didn’t pass because several Republicans decided to not keep their promises, plain and simple.

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While many have now said health care reform is over, I’ve continued to say the opposite.

My efforts to fix health care aren’t over, and I’m not done trying. In recent weeks, I’ve traveled across the Commonwealth, from Pikeville to Paducah, meeting with Kentuckians to discuss what comes next with health care and what we can do to alleviate the burdens of Obamacare on small businesses and the individual market.

My idea to expand the availability of group insurance through Association Health Plans has been well received by those I’ve met with, and I truly think it’s something we can get done through executive action. I’ve spoken with the President Donald Trump about this proposal and am optimistic that we can make this change to benefit so many of those struggling with skyrocketing premiums and limited choices.

When it comes to health care or any other issue, I’m proud to be an independent voice, unafraid to challenge the status quo. I refuse to blindly acquiesce to the groupthink mentality just because there is an R next to my name.

When I ran for office, I promised to defend and represent Kentucky in the Senate, not to always vote for the Republican bills. That means standing up and speaking out when I disagree, and I’m proud to be keeping my promise.

Rand Paul is the junior senator from Kentucky.