Asked (click here) whether he feels pressure from fellow Republicans amid all their criticism, Sen. Rand Paul shrugged and answered: “Uh, no.”
...Despite being one of the Senate’s most conservative members, Paul has been the loudest GOP critic of legislation to repeal the health care law that Republicans are desperate to jam through before a Sept. 30 deadline. His recalcitrant opposition left GOP leaders with virtually no breathing room as their whipping got underway, since they can lose only two votes and still pass the bill....
...“If you vote against us, you’re voting to keep Obamacare,” said Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, one of the bill’s namesakes, when asked about Paul’s intractable stance. “Period. End of story.”...
...Paul has repeatedly pressured the conference to go in a more conservative direction when it comes to ending Obamacare. He proposed a straight repeal of the 2010 law without a replacement, but that effort failed on a 45-55 vote in July, with seven Republicans voting against Paul’s amendment....
...But Paul is alone even among his usual conservative cohorts in the Senate. Sens. Mike Lee of Utah and Ted Cruz of Texas, who also have prodded GOP senators to go further to the right in their Obamacare repeal efforts, are warming to the legislation from Cassidy and Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.
