Republican senators are upset at fellow GOP Sen. Rand Paul for opposing the Graham-Cassidy bill to repeal Obamacare, Politico reported on Wednesday.
The party can lose only two GOP votes and still pass the bill, so the Kentucky senator's opposition makes the task all the more difficult.
What makes Republican frustration even greater is that Paul is one of the more conservative senators who has been most adamant to get rid of Obamacare.
Rand has defended his position, writing in a Fox News op-ed that "In all ways, this bill is also ObamaCare Lite. In no way is it repeal the way we promised. I will oppose this bill as I did the other fake repeal bills, and I urge those who want repeal to do so, as well."
He emphasized that "Graham-Cassidy doesn't repeal a single Obamacare insurance regulation. All of the Title 1 rules, the essential health benefit rules, all of them — they're still in place here."
Paul also stated that the bill would merely redistribute large amounts of federal funds from states that expanded Medicaid under Obamacare to states that chose not to.
Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota summed up his party's dismay at Paul's opposition to the bill, telling Politico that "I think most of us are trying to figure out what the logic is. We all know that some folks would rather have a bill that's perfect. But I guess if we can't have a bill that's perfect, I'd rather have a bill that's much better than what [the law] is today."
GOP exasperation with Paul's stance also is enhanced by the fact that other conservative senators such as Mike Lee of Utah and Ted Cruz of Texas are willing to vote for the Graham-Cassidy bill.
Paul's position is even being criticized by his usual reliable ally, the anti-abortion lobby, as Susan B. Anthony List President Marjorie Dannenfelser told Politico that Paul's "outright opposition to the bill and his dismissiveness of the pro-life priorities within it is alarming and damaging."
Other Republican senators have pointed out that even moderate GOP Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, whose opposition thwarted other attempts to pass Obamacare repeal bills, has shown more openness to Graham-Cassidy.
Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina tried to use Paul's argument against the bill as only 10 percent repeal against him, saying "So, a 'yes' vote for this bill 10 percent repeal. A 'no' vote is 100 percent support" for Obamacare.
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