Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul met Thursday morning with 25 House Republicans in an effort to rally conservatives against a budget measure that GOP leaders see as the first step toward repealing Obamacare.
But top Republicans have no reason to fear yet.
Paul left the meeting without commitments from the Republicans — mostly members of the hard-line House Freedom Caucus — to oppose the measure. Instead, the caucus plans to meet and discuss its position next week.
“Conservatives need to try to band together,” Paul said after Thursday’s meeting.
Paul is attempting to heighten concerns about deficit spending — even as doing so could imperil the Republican effort to immediately repeal President Barack Obama’s health care law.
The Kentucky Republican was the only Senate Republican to vote against a budget resolution Wednesday that would pave the way for Obamacare’s repeal, complaining that it would also raise the deficit.
“I’m disappointed that the first action out of a new Republican Congress that has the majority in the Senate, majority in the House and the White House that their first action will be a budget that never balances and adds $9.7 trillion to the deficit,” Paul told CNN Wednesday. “I just can’t vote for a budget that never balances and adds so much new debt.”
If Paul is ultimately successful, it would thwart the avenue Republican leaders had identified to work around Democratic objections and roll back Obama’s signature domestic achievement.
House Republicans were non-committal after meeting with Paul.
“The Freedom Caucus has been very strong in its support of a balanced budget, and it’s too early to tell whether that would be a casualty of voting for this budget,” said Rep. Mark Meadows, the chairman of the House Freedom Caucus.
“Anytime you look at anything, you’ve got to be concerned about the cost,” Meadows said.
Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said “we’re waiting for our meeting” to discuss the group’s position.
“We heard some good information from Rand. We had some good dialogue back and forth,” he said.
Others deflected questions about the mechanics of how Congress will roll back Obama’s health law.
“I’m supportive of repealing Obamacare,” said Rep. Justin Amash, R-Michigan.
Paul acknowledged that the Senate GOP budget move is related to Obamacare but says it doesn’t have to raise the deficit.
“We’re told they’re doing this just so they can get rid of Obamacare, and that’s true. Well we could have done both. We could have introduced a budget that actually leads to balance, is fiscally conservative and repeals Obamacare,” Paul said.