House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, R-Md., is asking House Republican leaders to follow “regular order” as they work to legislatively dismantle the Affordable Care Act.
Top Democrats on the committees tasked with writing the repeal asked House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., to have “any legislation repealing the Affordable Care Act, or any replacement plan, follow regular order and an open and transparent process,” Hoyer noted.
“I write you in support of that request and ask that the Republican House leadership make a public commitment to ensure that any repeal legislation goes through the appropriate committees and markups, complete with public hearings and receiving a full [Congressional Budget Office] score, before being brought to the House floor,” he wrote in a letter sent moments after the House—without a single Democratic vote—approved a budget resolution on Friday that will serve as the vehicle for repealing the ACA.
“Given the enormous, negative consequences of repealing the ACA without immediately replacing it, as you and other House Republican leaders have indicated as your intention, the American people deserve to know exactly where every representative stands at each step in the process and to be aware of the full costs and impact of any repeal legislation,” Hoyer said.
He noted that when the Affordable Care Act was on its way to becoming law, Democrats followed “regular order”—meaning first drafted and approved in committee, then sent through the Rules Committee and then onto the House floor for votes on amendments and the bill itself.
Instead of that process, sometimes complex or controversial legislation is essentially written by leadership and shown to lawmakers mere hours before they have to vote on it.
“The House held 79 bipartisan markups and hearings, and we invited all stakeholders to participate in drafting the law and providing comment on its potential impact,” Hoyer stated. “We spent two years making sure that every representative, advocacy group, and industry representative had ample opportunity to share their views and provide feedback.
“We and the American people expect no less when it comes to any effort to repeal the law,” he wrote.
