Where have I been..........him and other Repubs said they are voting no...........
http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/22/politics/rand-paul-senate-rules-pence-obamacare-reconciliation/index.html
The proposal -- which has also drawn support from Sen. Ted Cruz -- purports to ease passage of a more expansive Obamacare replacement bill by foregoing traditional Senate rules and seating Vice President Mike Pence as Senate chair for the vote.
Paul argued that with Pence as chair, he would be empowered to make decisions about what can be passed through budget reconciliation, a procedural distinction that has a simple majority-vote-threshold. That would allow Republicans to bypass the larger, 60-vote requirement that would otherwise be required to repeal and replace key components of the Affordable Care Act -- a major roadblock.
Paul -- who opposes the current GOP health care bill moving through the House -- said Wednesday on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" that leadership "is afraid of the Senate parliamentarian. But we've read the rules, and it looks to us like the vice president can sit in the chair, and the vice president can decide for the Senate what is reconcilable."
He explained, "the rules, the budget rules that everyone touts and are so arcane, they say the chair rules, and not the parliamentarian. The chair rules. The vice president has the prerogative of sitting in the chair, and if they want this done, the vice president should come to the Senate."
Paul's proposal comes as Republicans are under growing pressure to pass an Obamacare repeal bill -- but divisions within the party, a slim Senate majority, and legislative procedure have complicated those efforts.
Lacking large enough majorities in Congress to pass outright repeal, GOP leadership has sold Obamacare repeal and replacement as a three-phase plan, with partial repeal now and other key changes left for later.
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