The GOP is Actively Trying to Hide the Updated Health Care Plan From the Public

While many Republican lawmakers claim Trump’s various Russia scandals have managed to distract from the business of actually passing legislation, they seem to have no problem leveraging the distraction as a sort of smokescreen. Senate Republicans reportedly hope to push their new health-care bill into law with as little public oversight as possible.

Republicans apparently have no plan to release a draft of the bill to the public. According to one senior aide:

We aren’t stupid. We are still in discussions about what will be in the final product so it is premature to release any draft absent further member conversations and consensus.

The plan here seems to be to finish the bill, release a draft to the public at the last moment, and then vote on the thing before anybody really has a chance to look at what will be entailed. The next congressional recess is on July 4, and the hope is the bill could be signed into law before then. Considering the bill could potentially leave millions of Americans suddenly without health insurance, this is an extremely morally dubious move by the GOP. Typically, bills of this size and impact would subject to hearings or public examinations. But hey, screw the public, right?

Republicans have already claimed that Trump’s principles and campaign promises will be ignored when drafting the bill, and it appears they’re also willing to capitalize on his scandals to hide their own malfeasance. Using a scandal to hide a scandal? Sounds like Trump’s America.