4 May 2017 3:39 pm
House Republicans narrowly pass controversial bill to overhaul the health-care system, claiming fulfillment of a major campaign promise.
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The vote caps a haphazard debate that included few public hearings and the hasty revision of key sections of the bill during closed-door meetings at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue.
The effort was designed to secure votes from skeptical conservatives and moderates initially unwilling to support the legislation.
Despite more than six years of campaign pledges to undo the ACA and the recent changes to the legislation, several Republican lawmakers admitted Thursday that they have not read the bill or ignored questions about their understanding of it shouted by reporters.
Republicans have accused Democrats in the past of ramming their health-care bill through without giving members a chance to absorb it — but on Thursday they insisted that they are not doing the same thing.
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Republicans also disregarded the absence of a final cost estimate from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office — Congress’s official scorekeeper — on how much the bill would cost and how many people would receive health-care coverage.
[.......]
The vote caps a haphazard debate that included few public hearings and the hasty revision of key sections of the bill during closed-door meetings at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue.
The effort was designed to secure votes from skeptical conservatives and moderates initially unwilling to support the legislation.
Despite more than six years of campaign pledges to undo the ACA and the recent changes to the legislation, several Republican lawmakers admitted Thursday that they have not read the bill or ignored questions about their understanding of it shouted by reporters.
Republicans have accused Democrats in the past of ramming their health-care bill through without giving members a chance to absorb it — but on Thursday they insisted that they are not doing the same thing.
[........]
Republicans also disregarded the absence of a final cost estimate from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office — Congress’s official scorekeeper — on how much the bill would cost and how many people would receive health-care coverage.