House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., blasted House Republicans Thursday for “hiding” their plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.
“I’m told … that Republicans are hiding their ACA repeal bill in a basement room” of the Capitol, Pelosi said, citing news articles. “This is unheard of. Even a Republican, Sen. Rand Paul, is criticizing House GOP leaders for the secrecy, she said.
By contrast, Pelosi said Democrats wrote the ACA with unprecedented openness, including an eight-day markup in the Senate Finance Committee.
Republicans say even Democrats don’t know what is in the mammoth law, telling Democrats to “‘read the bill, read the bill,” she said. “We read the bill; we wrote the bill and read the bill. And here they are hiding their bill in the basement.”
Pelosi charged that Republicans are keeping it under wraps because of their fear public backlash.
The Republicans are too terrified of their constituents to make their plan to destroy affordable healthcare public,” she said.
As far as when the draft legislation may become public, she said: “It’s like a Houdini act. Maybe it will free itself or something, I don’t know.”
Minutes later House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., took to the House floor to chastise Republican leaders for the secrecy.
“Can I see the bill today?” Hoyer asked House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., during their weekly colloquy.
“You’re not on that committee so you can see it when they mark it up,” McCarthy answered.
But the Energy and Commerce Committee’s top Democrat, Rep. Frank Pallone of New Jersey, complained that committee staff would not even tell him where the bill is when asked to read it. Meanwhile, at least one Republican not on the panel told the Washington Examiner that he was allowed to read the bill.
Hoyer pushed McCarthy on reports that a mark-up of the bill is scheduled for next week.
“That’s an action of the committee and they will list as soon as they are prepared to do their mark-up,” he answered.
“I don’t know if that is a ‘yes,’ or a ‘no’ or a, ‘I’m not going to tell you,’ but it tells me that the majority leader doesn’t know” what is happening within his conference, Hoyer charged.
