The Freedom Caucus wing in the Senate—Sens. Rand Paul (R-KY) and Ted Cruz (R-TX)—share the frustration those maniacs have been expressing for years that the Senate has rules that allow the other elected party actually gets to have a say. And even though Republicans have engineered Trumpcare to mostly fit in those rules AND cut Democrats out of the mix, they are frustrated that those rules don't allow them to really destroy health care in America, so they're pushing to nuke those rules.
The firebrands want to overturn long-standing precedent for what can be done under reconciliation, the fast-track budget process the GOP is using to dismantle the Affordable Care Act. They argue Republicans are allowing stale Senate norms to tie their hands and are forfeiting a chance to completely abolish the law.
The key factor in allowing reconciliation to proceed is whether each provision in the bill has a direct impact on the budget — a question typically put to the Senate parliamentarian, a nonpartisan staffer named Elizabeth MacDonough.
But Cruz, of Texas, and Paul, of Kentucky argue that it is up to whoever is presiding over the Senate at the time, which can be Vice President Mike Pence as president of the Senate. Under their argument, Pence could make the call about whether certain parts of Obamacare can be scrapped or whether new policy, such as allowing insurers to sell across states lines, can be enacted — and he would presumably be more aggressive than MacDonough. […]
But as the Senate drafts its health care bill, Cruz and Paul are finding themselves on a virtual island. Many other Republicans interviewed by POLITICO say they have no interest in testing the Senate’s procedural bounds, arguing that doing so would undermine the institution and quickly lead to the end of the legislative filibuster.
Go figure—nobody wants to align with Cruz and Paul. That's probably the only thing that could prevent Mitch McConnell and team from following down this path—how much no one else in the Senate wants to be aligned with these two. Even Cruz's reliable sidekick, Utah's Mike Lee, doesn't want to go there. "Sen. Lee is against it," says his spokesperson.
Things can always change, though. If McConnell thinks Trump's days—and the days in which he can pass his own agenda—are limited, he's likely to do just about anything to shove as much as it through as he can. Even if it means working with Ted Cruz.