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Republican holdout Rand Paul to vote opening debate on health bill

U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) (C) speaks with reporters about healthcare legislation outside the Senate floor at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S. July 18, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/Files

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican Senator Rand Paul said on Tuesday he would vote to open debate on a healthcare overhaul to supplant the Affordable Care Act after the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, told him they planned to take up a clean repeal vote. "This morning, @SenateMajLdr informed me that the plan for today is to take up the 2015 clean repeal bill as I've urged," Paul wrote in a series of Twitter posts. "If that is the plan, I will vote to proceed to have this vote. I also now believe we will be able to defeat the new spending and bailouts." (Reporting by Doina Chiacu; Editing by David Alexander)