Durbin Says Republican Senators Conducting Health-Legislation Work In Secret
U.S. Senator Dick Durbin says Republican senators are working on health care legislation in secret and trying to push it through without letting its contents be known. Amanda Vinicky / WUIS
Thirteen Republican U.S. Senators continue to work on drafting legislation to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.
Speaking on the Senate floor Tuesday. Democratic Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois says he has no idea what’s in the legislation that Majority Leader Mitch McConnell wants to call for a vote before the Fourth of July recess.
“I don’t know. And the reason I don’t know is it’s being done in secret. There’s no committee hearings. There’s no opportunity to offer an amendment. In fact we haven’t even seen the measure we’re going to be asked to vote on in two weeks.”
The House of Representatives passed its own health care measure, the American Health Care Act, last month on a party-line vote.
The Congressional Budget Office estimates that 23 million Americans would lose health insurance coverage if the AHCA becomes law, but that the average health insurance premium would drop slightly.