Finance Committee chairman Orrin Hatch has insisted repeatedly that the window for health care has closed, and that the Senate’s time is better spent on other issues for now.
“There’s too much animosity and we’re too divided on health care,” Hatch told Reuters on Monday. “I think we ought to acknowledge that we can come back to health care afterwards, but we need to move ahead on tax reform.”
Not every senator is convinced. Health Committee chairman Lamar Alexander announced Wednesday that his committee would hold bipartisan meetings looking at Obamacare repair, which would look at ways to prevent a collapse of the health insurance market.
Asked about these meetings Wednesday, Hatch was unimpressed.
“Why are they having hearings on health care?” he told reporters. “We’re onto taxation now. Health care, as far as I’m concerned, is over.”
