Rand Paul: Ryan ‘trying to pull the wool over the eyes of the president’ on ObamaCare replacement

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on Wednesday accused House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) of trying to deceive President Trump in an effort to win his support for House Republicans’ measure repealing and replacing ObamaCare.

“I don’t think it makes any sense and I think he’s trying to pull the wool over the eyes of the president,” Paul said in an interview with Breitbart News.

“I think when I’ve spoken with president Trump, I think he agrees with me that we should repeal and replace but I don’t think he’s stuck on that they have to be in the same bill necessarily. Paul Ryan, I think, is selling it to the White House and telling the White House, ‘Oh, it’s a piece of cake, it’s a done deal,’” he added.

Trump this week voiced his support for the plan and urged Congress to pass it quickly. 

Paul is one of many conservatives who have voiced opposition to Ryan’s healthcare plan, and tensions seem to have escalated between him and the Speaker. The Kentucky senator joined several House Democrats in a “search” effort last week to find the healthcare bill, accusing congressional leaders of preparing in secret.

We are continuing our search for the Obamacare Lite bill! Do you know where the secret location might be? Has anyone seen the bill? pic.twitter.com/WcSIDTs0vP

— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 3, 2017

{mosads}Ryan slammed the move as a “publicity stunt,” and argued that accusations that the bill was kept under wraps were not true.

“I like Rand, but I think he’s looking for a publicity stunt here,” Ryan said on Fox News. “The things he described are just not accurate.”

House Republicans unveiled their long-awaited measure to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act on Monday, but the bill has garnered significant backlash from some conservative groups and GOP lawmakers, particularly over tax credits.

The legislation does away with the ACA’s Medicaid expansion and replaces the law’s subsidies with tax breaks to encourage people to purchase health insurance on the open market. It also gets rid of ObamaCare’s mandate requiring people to buy insurance.

But Paul claims the measure doesn’t go far enough.

“Obamacare Lite, Paul Ryan’s plan, just changes it so you have to pay a penalty to the insurance companies,” Paul told Breitbart. “I consider that to still be a mandate that isn’t consistent with those of us who want less government involvement.”