Skip to content

In Advance of Partisan White House Health Care Meeting, Senate Democrats Release New Video: Republicans Promised Americans They Would Follow Bipartisan Committee Process – But Now, Senate GOP Is Drafting Secret, Partisan Health Care Bill Behind Closed Doors, With Zero Hearings & Zero Bipartisan Input

Leader McConnell In 2014: “Bills should go through committee. And if Republicans are fortunate enough, Republicans are fortunate enough, to gain the majority next year, that will be done.” Now: Senate Republicans Are Refusing To Release The Bill, Allow Democrats To Have Input, Or Hold Hearings – Senate Dems Urge GOP To Reserve Course & Release To The Public Their Secret Bill Senate Dems: Legislation That Could Literally Mean Life Or Death For Millions Of Americans, Deserves To See Light Of Day

Washington, D.C. – In advance of President Trump’s meeting with the partisan gang of 13 Republican Senators who are secretly drafting the new Trumpcare bill behind closed doors, Senate Democrats today released a video exposing Senate Republicans’ broken promises to the American people. Senate Republicans vowed they would follow a bipartisan committee process and to always give the American people time to “read the bill”. But now, the Senate GOP is drafting a secret, partisan health care bill behind closed doors, refusing any meaningful bipartisan input on the bill and refusing to hold any hearings on this legislation that would impact one sixth of our economy. Senate Democrats today urged the GOP to reverse course on this tactic and release to the public the legislation that would impact the health and bottom lines of millions of Americans.

WATCH THE VIDEO:

TWITTER:  https://twitter.com/SenateDems/status/874443901658157058

FACEBOOKhttps://www.facebook.com/USSenateDemocrats/videos/1361418350594022/

YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/pWamFsGZm3Q

Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY): “We're aiming for common-sense solutions, not large or complex bills no one reads and few understand. We want to engage members from both parties in the legislative process, to get our democracy working again the way it was designed.” [Republican Response to the President’s Weekly Radio Address, 11/1/14]

Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY): “As we have pointed out repeatedly, this massive piece of legislation that seeks to restructure one-sixth of our economy is being written behind closed doors without input from anyone in an effort to jam it past, not only the Senate, but the American people before Christmas, an artificial deadline, every American will be affected by this missing bill. Every single American will be affected by this and no one will have had an opportunity to read it and to understand it.” [Press Conference, 12/18/09]

Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY): “ Major legislation is now routinely drafted not in committee but in the majority leader's conference room and then dropped on the floor with little or no opportunity for Members to participate in the amendment process, virtually guaranteeing a fight. There’s a lot of empty talk around here about the corrosive influence of partisanship. Well, if you really want to do something about it, you should support a more robust committee process.  That’s the best way to end the permanent sort of shirts against skins contest the Senate’s become. Bills should go through committee. And if Republicans are fortunate enough, Republicans are fortunate enough, to gain the majority next year, that will be done.” [Floor Remarks, 1/8/14]

 

###