A top Democrat slammed House Republicans for showing an Obamacare replacement bill to only GOP members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee Thursday.
“Maybe the Russian ambassador is down there and he can tell us what is in the bill,” said Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., the top Democrat on the committee, referring to news of contacts between the ambassador and Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
“They will let him in, but they won’t let me in,” Pallone said during an unrelated subcommittee hearing Thursday.
Pallone noted that there are reports of a House markup scheduled for the Energy and Commerce Committee for next Wednesday, which subcommittee Chairman Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Texas, wouldn’t confirm.
“It seems like everyone knows there is going to be a markup next Wednesday of the Affordable Care Act except for the Democrats,” he said.
House Republicans are letting GOP caucus members view the Obamacare repeal bill Thursday at a location in the Capitol basement, but the members can only read it there and don’t get a copy.
Democrats aren’t the only ones upset at the secrecy.
Rand Paul slammed House Republicans for not showing their Obamacare replacement plan.
“I have been told that the House Obamacare bill is under lock & key, in a secure location & not available for me or the public to view,” the Kentucky Republican senator tweeted Thursday. “This is unacceptable. This is the biggest issue before Congress and the American people right now.”
Rep. Chris Collins, R-N.Y., a member of House leadership, told the Washington Examiner on Wednesday that the bill will be made available Thursday but nobody would get a copy of it.
But some Republican committee members said Thursday they haven’t seen or heard of anything yet. Reps. Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., and Buddy Carter, R-Ga., both told the Washington Examiner before a hearing Thursday that they hadn’t seen any plan and weren’t aware of an effort to make the plan available to them.
