
"We have no idea what's being proposed," said Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.). ((Photo: Moriah Ratner via The Hill)
'Sacrificing Democracy': Senate GOP Plans to Hide TrumpCare From US Public
"Republicans know their healthcare bill is super unpopular and so are trying to shield it from public scrutiny," wrote Nate Silver
In an act of secrecy denounced by one commentator as "an insult to Americans and our democratic process," two GOP aides told Axios on Monday that although the Senate will soon complete its version of the widely panned American Health Care Act--also known as TrumpCare--the bill will be withheld from the public indefinitely.
"We have no idea what's being proposed. There's a group of guys in a back room somewhere that are making decisions."
--Sen. Claire McCaskill
Explaining the reasoning behind the Senate's lack of transparency, one of the aides remarked, "We aren't stupid."
Once the bill is complete, Axios's Caitlin Owens reported, it will be sent to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to be scored.
"It'll take CBO about two weeks to evaluate and score a draft bill," Owen added. "Senate Republicans then want to vote on the bill before the July 4th recess."
On social media, commentators were swift in denouncing the move as hypocritical and undemocratic. Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight observed, "Republicans know their health care bill is super unpopular and so are trying to shield it from public scrutiny.
\u201cSenate Republicans are writing a bill to remake 1/6th of the US economy & wont tell anyone what's in it. Democracy! https://t.co/097NrbPtuh\u201d— Michael Cohen (@Michael Cohen) 1497289072
\u201cSacrificing democracy! GOP lack courage to give bill light of day! Senate GOP won't release health care bill @axios https://t.co/hxQltxRONU\u201d— Sr. Simone Campbell (@Sr. Simone Campbell) 1497282754
\u201cRT if you agree: the Senate GOP's decision to hide their health care plan is undemocratic, dangerous, and just plain wrong. https://t.co/CDXBiHDzNN\u201d— Kamala Harris (@Kamala Harris) 1497287014
Before Axios's reporting made clear the Republicans' intentions to keep their deliberations secret, Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) castigated her colleagues during a recent Senate Finance Committee meeting for keeping the Congress and the public out of the health care loop.
"We have no idea what's being proposed," McCaskill said. "There's a group of guys in a back room somewhere that are making decisions."
She continued:
We're not even going to have a hearing on a bill that impacts one-sixth of our economy. We're not even going to have an opportunity to offer a single amendment.
\u201c"Will there be a hearing on the health care proposal?" Senator @clairecmc asked today in the Finance Cmte. You should watch: #Trumpcare\u201d— Senate Democrats (@Senate Democrats) 1496974857
Andy Slavitt, who served as acting administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services from 2015 to 2017, also took aim at the GOP's tactics in a Washington Post op-ed published over the weekend, accusing Senate Republicans of using "three tools" to ram through their wildly unpopular health care plan: "sabotage, speed, and secrecy."
Slavitt noted that the architects of the health care plan face a vexing dilemma: "What to do with a bill that is clogging your agenda but only 8 percent of Americans want you to pass and members of your own caucus swore was dead on arrival?"
Instead of rewriting the bill from scratch and attempting to adopt measures that would make it less harmful--previous CBO estimates indicated that if the House version of TrumpCare were implemented, 23 million people would lose insurance--the Senate has instead decided to recede into the darkness, shielding their deliberations from criticism and keeping crucial information hidden from the public.
News that the Senate is planning to send their version of TrumpCare to the CBO without making it public comes as reports have indicated that "moderates" within the GOP who previously insisted that Obamacare's Medicaid expansion be maintained are caving quickly under pressure from their fellow Republicans.
And as the Huffington Post recently reported, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is attempting to capitalize on the attention being paid to other matters--namely former FBI James Comey's recent testimony--to quietly pass deeply significant legislation.
"How bad is the Senate health care bill likely to be?" the official Twitter account of House Ways and Means Committee Democrats wondered. "So bad that they can't share it with the public, apparently."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, The U.S. is on a fast track to authoritarianism like nothing I've ever seen. Meanwhile, corporate news outlets are utterly capitulating to Trump, twisting their coverage to avoid drawing his ire while lining up to stuff cash in his pockets. That's why I believe that Common Dreams is doing the best and most consequential reporting that we've ever done. Our small but mighty team is a progressive reporting powerhouse, covering the news every day that the corporate media never will. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. And to ignite change for the common good. Now here's the key piece that I want all our readers to understand: None of this would be possible without your financial support. That's not just some fundraising cliche. It's the absolute and literal truth. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. The final deadline for our crucial Summer Campaign fundraising drive is just days away, and we’re falling short of our must-hit goal. Will you donate now to help power the nonprofit, independent reporting of Common Dreams? Thank you for being a vital member of our community. Together, we can keep independent journalism alive when it’s needed most. - Craig Brown, Co-founder |
In an act of secrecy denounced by one commentator as "an insult to Americans and our democratic process," two GOP aides told Axios on Monday that although the Senate will soon complete its version of the widely panned American Health Care Act--also known as TrumpCare--the bill will be withheld from the public indefinitely.
"We have no idea what's being proposed. There's a group of guys in a back room somewhere that are making decisions."
--Sen. Claire McCaskill
Explaining the reasoning behind the Senate's lack of transparency, one of the aides remarked, "We aren't stupid."
Once the bill is complete, Axios's Caitlin Owens reported, it will be sent to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to be scored.
"It'll take CBO about two weeks to evaluate and score a draft bill," Owen added. "Senate Republicans then want to vote on the bill before the July 4th recess."
On social media, commentators were swift in denouncing the move as hypocritical and undemocratic. Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight observed, "Republicans know their health care bill is super unpopular and so are trying to shield it from public scrutiny.
\u201cSenate Republicans are writing a bill to remake 1/6th of the US economy & wont tell anyone what's in it. Democracy! https://t.co/097NrbPtuh\u201d— Michael Cohen (@Michael Cohen) 1497289072
\u201cSacrificing democracy! GOP lack courage to give bill light of day! Senate GOP won't release health care bill @axios https://t.co/hxQltxRONU\u201d— Sr. Simone Campbell (@Sr. Simone Campbell) 1497282754
\u201cRT if you agree: the Senate GOP's decision to hide their health care plan is undemocratic, dangerous, and just plain wrong. https://t.co/CDXBiHDzNN\u201d— Kamala Harris (@Kamala Harris) 1497287014
Before Axios's reporting made clear the Republicans' intentions to keep their deliberations secret, Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) castigated her colleagues during a recent Senate Finance Committee meeting for keeping the Congress and the public out of the health care loop.
"We have no idea what's being proposed," McCaskill said. "There's a group of guys in a back room somewhere that are making decisions."
She continued:
We're not even going to have a hearing on a bill that impacts one-sixth of our economy. We're not even going to have an opportunity to offer a single amendment.
\u201c"Will there be a hearing on the health care proposal?" Senator @clairecmc asked today in the Finance Cmte. You should watch: #Trumpcare\u201d— Senate Democrats (@Senate Democrats) 1496974857
Andy Slavitt, who served as acting administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services from 2015 to 2017, also took aim at the GOP's tactics in a Washington Post op-ed published over the weekend, accusing Senate Republicans of using "three tools" to ram through their wildly unpopular health care plan: "sabotage, speed, and secrecy."
Slavitt noted that the architects of the health care plan face a vexing dilemma: "What to do with a bill that is clogging your agenda but only 8 percent of Americans want you to pass and members of your own caucus swore was dead on arrival?"
Instead of rewriting the bill from scratch and attempting to adopt measures that would make it less harmful--previous CBO estimates indicated that if the House version of TrumpCare were implemented, 23 million people would lose insurance--the Senate has instead decided to recede into the darkness, shielding their deliberations from criticism and keeping crucial information hidden from the public.
News that the Senate is planning to send their version of TrumpCare to the CBO without making it public comes as reports have indicated that "moderates" within the GOP who previously insisted that Obamacare's Medicaid expansion be maintained are caving quickly under pressure from their fellow Republicans.
And as the Huffington Post recently reported, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is attempting to capitalize on the attention being paid to other matters--namely former FBI James Comey's recent testimony--to quietly pass deeply significant legislation.
"How bad is the Senate health care bill likely to be?" the official Twitter account of House Ways and Means Committee Democrats wondered. "So bad that they can't share it with the public, apparently."
In an act of secrecy denounced by one commentator as "an insult to Americans and our democratic process," two GOP aides told Axios on Monday that although the Senate will soon complete its version of the widely panned American Health Care Act--also known as TrumpCare--the bill will be withheld from the public indefinitely.
"We have no idea what's being proposed. There's a group of guys in a back room somewhere that are making decisions."
--Sen. Claire McCaskill
Explaining the reasoning behind the Senate's lack of transparency, one of the aides remarked, "We aren't stupid."
Once the bill is complete, Axios's Caitlin Owens reported, it will be sent to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to be scored.
"It'll take CBO about two weeks to evaluate and score a draft bill," Owen added. "Senate Republicans then want to vote on the bill before the July 4th recess."
On social media, commentators were swift in denouncing the move as hypocritical and undemocratic. Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight observed, "Republicans know their health care bill is super unpopular and so are trying to shield it from public scrutiny.
\u201cSenate Republicans are writing a bill to remake 1/6th of the US economy & wont tell anyone what's in it. Democracy! https://t.co/097NrbPtuh\u201d— Michael Cohen (@Michael Cohen) 1497289072
\u201cSacrificing democracy! GOP lack courage to give bill light of day! Senate GOP won't release health care bill @axios https://t.co/hxQltxRONU\u201d— Sr. Simone Campbell (@Sr. Simone Campbell) 1497282754
\u201cRT if you agree: the Senate GOP's decision to hide their health care plan is undemocratic, dangerous, and just plain wrong. https://t.co/CDXBiHDzNN\u201d— Kamala Harris (@Kamala Harris) 1497287014
Before Axios's reporting made clear the Republicans' intentions to keep their deliberations secret, Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) castigated her colleagues during a recent Senate Finance Committee meeting for keeping the Congress and the public out of the health care loop.
"We have no idea what's being proposed," McCaskill said. "There's a group of guys in a back room somewhere that are making decisions."
She continued:
We're not even going to have a hearing on a bill that impacts one-sixth of our economy. We're not even going to have an opportunity to offer a single amendment.
\u201c"Will there be a hearing on the health care proposal?" Senator @clairecmc asked today in the Finance Cmte. You should watch: #Trumpcare\u201d— Senate Democrats (@Senate Democrats) 1496974857
Andy Slavitt, who served as acting administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services from 2015 to 2017, also took aim at the GOP's tactics in a Washington Post op-ed published over the weekend, accusing Senate Republicans of using "three tools" to ram through their wildly unpopular health care plan: "sabotage, speed, and secrecy."
Slavitt noted that the architects of the health care plan face a vexing dilemma: "What to do with a bill that is clogging your agenda but only 8 percent of Americans want you to pass and members of your own caucus swore was dead on arrival?"
Instead of rewriting the bill from scratch and attempting to adopt measures that would make it less harmful--previous CBO estimates indicated that if the House version of TrumpCare were implemented, 23 million people would lose insurance--the Senate has instead decided to recede into the darkness, shielding their deliberations from criticism and keeping crucial information hidden from the public.
News that the Senate is planning to send their version of TrumpCare to the CBO without making it public comes as reports have indicated that "moderates" within the GOP who previously insisted that Obamacare's Medicaid expansion be maintained are caving quickly under pressure from their fellow Republicans.
And as the Huffington Post recently reported, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is attempting to capitalize on the attention being paid to other matters--namely former FBI James Comey's recent testimony--to quietly pass deeply significant legislation.
"How bad is the Senate health care bill likely to be?" the official Twitter account of House Ways and Means Committee Democrats wondered. "So bad that they can't share it with the public, apparently."