The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee reconvened Monday afternoon to try to hammer out the language of a health care reform bill, but like last week, it got off to a rocky start, with Republicans repeating their criticism that the bill lacks key specifics, including cost.
Senator John McCain, R-Ariz., who last week labeled the bill “a joke” attacked it again, telling Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., who is leading the negotiations, that it will be impossible for the committee to complete work on the bill with so many missing details.
“You are not addressing the essential important elements of health care reform in America, so let’s not tell the American people we are,” McCain said.
Dodd fired back, telling McCain “everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not your own facts.”
Dodd said the missing parts of the bill would be addressed as negotiations move along, including the cost, which the Congressional Budget Office has estimated to be at least $1 trillion.
“We are obviously trying to come up with a bill that makes this a reasonable number,” Dodd said of the missing price tag. “There is no point in bringing up something if we don’t have agreement on it.”
