Eliza S Collins

The Courier-Journal

WASHINGTON — Sen. Rand Paul was one of the key voices in urging House conservatives to vote against the Republican repeal and replace bill last month. But now the Kentucky senator is trying to convince the president and his Republican colleagues to take another swing at repeal legislation.

Paul and Trump were partners Sunday at Trump’s golf course in Virginia. The pair played against Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney and “a businessman from Philadelphia.” They ultimately tied, but the real focus was on trying to figure out how to move forward on health care after the bill’s dramatic implosion last month.

“My impression is that they very much still want to get something done on health care — and I think so does everybody,” Paul told a group of reporters in his Washington D.C. office Monday.

Now he’s offering up a new approach that he thinks could bring the party together.

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Paul said that part of the issue with the House Republican plan to repeal Obamacare was that the different factions of the party couldn’t come up with an agreement on how to replace it.

His proposal: Don’t replace it. Instead, leave certain aspects in place and vote on a clean partial repeal.

“I think the compromise could be keeping some of the underlying things in Obamacare, some small percentage of them in order to placate the people who want that but not affirmatively putting it in the bill and saying conservatives you have to vote for (things you’re uncomfortable with),” Paul said. “Conservatives want 100 percent repeal, let’s say moderates want 80 percent repeal. Let’s vote for 90 percent repeal and be done with it.”

“It’s a difference for conservatives of whether they’re voting for something new, replacement plan, versus leaving in place something that they’re not really for,” Paul said.

Paul also hopes moderates will feel more comfortable voting for a repeal if they know that certain safety nets will be left in place under Obamacare.

Paul said he talked about his plan “quite a bit” at the golf course, but so far the White House isn’t biting.

“I think where they are is still trying to make it work with what they have and getting people to accept with what they have with very small tweaks to the existing bill,” Paul said.

“If they can get enough votes maybe it goes that way, but I’m trying to offer a different way in case we’re still at impasse,” he continued.

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On Monday, Paul met with Rep. Charlie Dent, a moderate Pennsylvania Republican who chairs Tuesday Group, to discuss areas of overlap with the different factions of the party. He said the conversation was “very good.”

Later Monday, he invited conservatives and members of the House Freedom Caucus — a group of the three dozen hardline conservatives in the House critical to sinking the repeal and replace legislation — to his office to hear his pitch.

Lawmakers who walked out weren’t immediately sold but did appreciate Paul’s commitment to trying to find a solution.

Rep. Thomas Massie, a conservative who aligns with the Freedom Caucus on some issues but is not a member, attended the meeting and told reporters after that the piece by piece approach is similar to one he proposed last week to his party.

"I think you can chip away at Obamacare piece wise and his suggestion was not unlike — not too unlike the suggestion I made to the conference last week," Massie told reporters after the meeting.

But he cautioned that Paul's plan still didn't address the fact that repealing certain regulations and leaving others in place could cause prices to go up.

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