You might think that the example of the process of getting Trumpcare and Zombie Trumpcare through the House—and the massive opposition to it among the general populace—would have made Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell approach the whole thing with a bit more transparency, and a tad more democracy (at least within the regular Senate procedures).
And you would think wrong. He's not doing any of that. He's trying to keep it all a big secret.
At a meeting of his health care working group last Tuesday, the Kentucky Republican excused all nonleadership staffers after expressing annoyance over the number of leaks about the private discussions, GOP senators and aides told Roll Call.
He was particularly frustrated with a report that cited a verbatim conversation that took place during a prior meeting, according to one lawmaker who spoke on the condition of anonymity. […]
Republican leadership has faced criticism for the manner in which the legislation is being crafted. Several members say the bill is not expected to go through the formal committee process. GOP leaders defend their methods and say all Republican senators will have the opportunity to contribute to the measure, but some members are warning that the conference as a whole will need ample time to review any final product.
Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, who has been working on a replacement bill with fellow Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine and even talking to some Democrats about their ideas, is one of those people criticizing how this secret process is happening.
McConnell has agreed to allow other Republican senators to drop in on the death panel's meetings—even the girls, apparently. But the discussions are still happening behind closed doors, outside of the committee process. Cassidy sees the danger.
"Look at the House, they didn’t have a [CBO] score and they voted on something and I think that if the score comes back poor, there’ll be a lot of criticisms of those House members," he said.
Not all Republican senators are going to be willing to go where all those House Republicans went, voting for a crap sandwich that was being changed behind closed doors practically up until the time it hit the floor. By the way, here's one of the things McConnell is trying to keep secret: they plan to kill the Medicaid expansion that's provided health insurance for millions.