Campaign Action
Senate Leader Mitch McConnell's Trumpcare bill is such a big secret, even popular vote loser Donald Trump's health secretary Tom Price hasn't seen it, but he doesn't seem too concerned by that fact. Testifying at a Senate hearing Thursday morning, Price was asked by Democratic Illinois Sen. Richard Durbin, "Have you or anyone in your department seen what the Senate Republicans are working on in terms of their version of Trumpcare?"
Price says that he's "had multiple conversations with senators," and that his staff "has provided technical assistance," but that he himself has not "seen any legislative language."
Durbin: You have not seen it? You haven’t seen it either?
Price: As I say, my staff has provided some technical assistance to individuals, but I haven't seen any legislative—
Durbin: Well, we haven't seen it either. And we’re told that we’re going to vote on it in a matter of days, without a CBO score and without any revelation of what's included in that. Do you think that's a responsible thing to do in terms of the health care of all the people living in America?
Price: I'll leave the Article 1 branch of the Constitution to determine how the Article I branch works.
Yeah, that's not how either the Article 1 branch or the Article 4 branch is supposed to work. The Congress is not supposed to be making huge policy in secret, behind closed doors, and without the input of the public, the stakeholders affected, the minority party in the Congress, or the president. Clearly, the White House doesn't give any more of a shit about how it's all supposed to work than McConnell and his Republicans pals do.
Meanwhile, Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz tweets that the "13 dudes who are secretly working to take away your healthcare met again today. They have bill text." He also says "Light up the phones."
He's right.