Rand Paul: Tea Party Rallies Needed To Stop GOP Health Care Bill
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Kentucky Senator Rand Paul called for conservatives in the Republican party to rally against the current version of the GOP's health care during an appearance on The Rich Zeoli Show on Talk Radio 1210 WPHT, saying this type of legislation is what voters joined tea parties all across the country to stop.
"I just don't understand it. What happened? I was at these tea party rallies with a hundred thousand people on the Mall in Washington. Where are those people now and what happened to a movement that said that we believed in free markets, freedom, choice, competition? Now, all of a sudden, we're saying there needs to be more Medicaid money is the supposed repeal?"
Paul stated he believes Donald Trump shares his view about health care reform, but that has not yet translated to the legislation being proposed.
"I think he is a conservative businessman and I've been increasingly convinced of that every time I meet him. I think if he has the power, he'll try to make this bill less bad. But, we've got a lot of, unfortunately, competing voices and right now, the voices that want to keep Obamacare are winning in the Republican caucus."
He hopes Trump can force the Republicans to amend the bill in ways more amenable to the conservative member of their caucus.
"We're going to keep fighting. The fight is not over. I think President Trump is on our side versus the establishment and we'll see if he has the ability to persuade. I just spoke to him, he called to see how it was going and I said, look, Mr President, we've got a big fight here and we need your help and I gave him some ideas. He said that sounds great. I'll see what I can do."
