Rand Paul: I Don’t Believe Obamacare Lite Will Pass in the House

Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said he believed the proposed Republican health care legislation to repeal and replace Obamacare will not pass through the House of Representatives, at which point he hopes “there will be a real negotiation.”

Partial transcript as follows:

STEPHANOPOULOS: Have you convinced enough conservatives in the house to vote no?

PAUL: I talked to the House Freedom Caucus leadership over the weekend. They still believe that the conservatives in their caucus don’t want Obamacare light. I believe the real negotiation begins when we stop them. You have to stop them. Conservatives will only have a seat at the table if we have 21 votes in the house or 3 of 4 in the senate. At that point, there will be a real negotiation. I passed out to them all ‘The Art of the Deal,’ last week. because we need to learn from the master. And let’s make sure that we increase our leverage by holding the line.

STEPHANOPOULOS:  You don’t think it will pass?

PAUL: I don’t believe so. Enough Conservatives do not want Obamacare light. I think that they do not fix the problem. This is the biggest political mistake of Republicans not thinking about how this is going look. They call it repeal and replace when it doesn’t fix the problems and you say you have fixed the problems, they’re going to own it. I promise you in a year the insurance markets will still be unraveling. The insurance companies will be begging for handouts. They have bailouts for insurance companies. Conservatives don’t want that. We’re for empowering the consumer to drive prices down to get better cost insurance. We’re not for when you get sick, the taxpayer takes over the tab for the insurance company. It’s a terrible situation. You socialize the insurance company losses but privatize the billions they make. I’m not for a giving a gift for the insurance companies and that’s what this House plan does.

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