Even though Republicans plan to hold a vote on repealing Obamacare, many GOP senators have admitted that they don’t have any idea what it is they’ll be voting on.
As Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times tweeted on Monday, “numerous” Republicans have told reporters they don’t know what is in the legislation.
Pausing to note that numerous GOP Senators have told reporters that they still do not know what they might be voting on tomorrow.
— Margot Sanger-Katz (@sangerkatz) July 24, 2017
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In other words, as Matt Fuller of The Huffington Post noted on Monday, Republicans are admitting that they don’t know what they’re voting on tomorrow – and the legislation could still pass.
Republicans basically admit they don’t know what they’re voting on and yet this motion to proceed still looks like it *could* get 50.
— Matt Fuller (@MEPFuller) July 24, 2017
This falls in line with an earlier report from USA Today indicating that Senate Republicans have yet to say what’s in their own health care plan.
As USA Today noted, “Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., will move forward Tuesday with a plan to hold a vote on repealing Obamacare, but it is still not clear what will be in the bill or whether it has enough votes to pass.”
Not only does this secretive process – the total opposite of what happened in the run up to votes on the Affordable Care Act – prevent the American people from seeing how they will be impacted by this legislation, but it keeps journalists from being able to do their jobs.
Normally, before a vote, I’d be telling you what you need to know about the bill at hand. But that’s not really possible right now.
— Margot Sanger-Katz (@sangerkatz) July 24, 2017
While we don’t know the exact details of what will be voted on tomorrow, we do have an idea based on previous versions of GOP legislation that have been scored by the Congressional Budget Office.
The Republican plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act is likely to kick millions of Americans off their insurance plans, gut Medicaid, make it harder for people with pre-existing conditions to afford care, and roll back health benefits guaranteed by Obamacare.
It’s not clear Tuesday’s vote on a motion to proceed with the Republican plan to repeal Obamacare will get enough votes to pass, but we do know that Republicans have no idea what they’re voting on.
Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
