Democratic Senators Brian Schatz of Hawaii, Cory Booker of New Jersey, and Chris Murphy of Connecticut are marching to the Congressional Budget Office in search of the secret Senate Republican health care bill.
Here are the Senators filming their departure:
Booker, Murphy and Schatz begin recording their march to CBO to find healthcare bill that doesn't exist pic.twitter.com/TmP8AumlOP
— Burgess Everett (@burgessev) June 20, 2017
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The Senators are vowing to leave no door unknocked in search of the legislation:
Sens. Schatz, Booker and Murphy prepping to cab over to CBO and search for the GOP health care bill. Will "leave no door unknocked"
— Ali Rogin (@AliABCNews) June 20, 2017
Sen. Schatz tweeted:
@CoryBooker and @ChrisMurphyCT and I took a taxi to CBO to see the bill. They couldn't show us. 1/6th of economy trashed, in secret.
— Brian Schatz (@brianschatz) June 20, 2017
The bill hasn’t been handed over the CBO yet because reports are that it is still being written, but consider the contrast. When the Affordable Care Act was going through the legislative process in the Senators, there were more than 160 hours of debate. The Senate spent 25 consecutive days in session on health care reform. The Senate Finance Committee held 50 bipartisan hearings on the ACA. The Senate HELP Committee held 47 bipartisan hearings on the ACA. The bill was publicly available from both the Finance and HELP committees six days before the markup.
Mitch McConnell’s plan is to make the Senate Republican health care bill available for less than two. Senate floor debate will be limited to ten hours, and there will be no hearings or amendments offered to the bill.
Senators shouldn’t have to go on a scavenger hunt for a piece of legislation that will impact one-sixth of the US economy. The Democratic Senators won’t find the bill, but they will reveal how vile and undemocratic Mitch McConnell’s process has been.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
