Republicans Keep Health Care Deliberations Secret As Negotiations Continue

WASHINGTON, DC — Despite its low profile in recent weeks, the Republican effort to repeal and replace Obamacare continues as Republicans in the Senate deliberate behind closed doors about how to fulfill their pledge to undo the law. GOP lawmakers are eschewing the typical procedures that go along with crafting major legislation, such as open hearings, coordinating with interest groups and negotiating with the opposing party.

"Better to pass a terrible bill in the cover of darkness just as the House did with its version, the American Health Care Act, in the hopes that critics do not have much time to raise a stink," the New York Times editorial board wrote of the process. (For more information on this and other political stories, subscribe to the White House Patch for daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

Details that have leaked to the public suggest the Senate's bill may look very much like the House's AHCA, which the Congressional Budget Office said would leave 23 million more people without health insurance by 2026 compared to current law. Some reports suggest that the Senate bill will still cut funding to Medicaid, just like in the House bill does, but the spending will fade out over a longer period, meaning fewer people may end up losing coverage.

With only 52 Republican votes in the Senate and the tie-breaking vote of Vice President Pence, lawmakers plan to push the bill through using a process called reconciliation. This allows Republicans to pass the bill with only 51 votes, instead of the usual 60; however, it also forces them to abide by strict rules about what can and cannot be included in the bill.

Eventually, even if the Senate passes a bill, it will still have to go back to the House for another vote.

President Trump appears to be on board with the Senate's efforts, meeting with a group of senators on Tuesday to discuss the progress over lunch.

At the lunch, he said the final bill needs to be "generous, kind, with heart. And that may be adding additional money into it."

It was reported later that he referred to the House version as "mean."

Even within the Senate, drafts of the GOP bill are remaining under lock and key. Hayley Byrd, a reporter for the Independent Journal Review, asked a conservative Senate aide about the bill. In response, the aide said: "We are assuming since they sent it to CBO today that it will then make its way to K Street, then to Politico, then we will see it. You know, the way government is supposed to work."

Publicly, Senators haven't committed to a deadline for a vote on a bill, though they hope to get it done soon. According to Politico, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell wants to hold a vote even if he's not able to secure passage of the bill so that lawmakers can at least tell their constituents they tried. Since Obamacare was signed into law in 2010, Republicans repeatedly pledged to repeal the law.

Meanwhile, despite the relative silence on the details of the health care bill, Republicans continue to loudly decry the failures of Obamacare. On Twitter Tuesday morning, Trump wrote, "2 million more people just dropped out of ObamaCare. It is in a death spiral. Obstructionist Democrats gave up, have no answer = resist!"

The "2 million" dropout figure refers to the number of people who signed up for insurance plans under the law but did not end up paying their premiums. However, officials expect some amount of people to drop their health plans, and this year's numbers are not a significant variation from previous rates of nonpayment.

Hillary Clinton decided to chime in about the progress of the legislation on Twitter:

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