WASHINGTON (AP) – Lacking the votes to stop it, Democrats are criticizing the still-evolving Senate Republican health care bill as a stealthy measure that GOP leaders want to rush through the chamber before anyone knows what’s really in it.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., will have none of it. He says President Barack Obama’s health care law has been failing since its 2010 enactment and there’s no reason to wait to erase it.
“At the end of the process, Congress will have a chance to turn the page on this failed law,” he said Monday.
Democrats concede that Obama’s prized statute needs changes to shore up some regional markets where insurers are losing money. But they praise its impact on providing coverage to around 20 million additional people and forcing insurers to provide more generous benefits.
They held the Senate floor for several hours late Monday and promised to use procedural tactics to slow the Senate’s work in an effort to focus attention on the Republican effort. They also forced McConnell to turn aside requests to require Senate committees to debate and vote on the measure, a step in the legislative process that GOP leaders have foregone.