Mitch McConnell–a small reptilian operating levers within the brain of the reanimated corpse of an Antebellum Kentucky gentleman–poked his head out in the Senate this evening to justify the sinister secret process by which Republicans are drafting a health care bill. Over the course of over a month, he and 12 other males have been working on a bill which nobody has seen but would most certainly repeal health care for 23 million people. The New York Times reports that there will be no more than 20 hours to debate the bill, and Democrats will have no more than 10 hours to review it.
McConnell, dead husk of a human being, said that Obamacare is “crumbling” and “imposed on our country,” speaking in broad terms about how Republicans will vaguely end unspecified suffering. “We’ve heard so many anguished stories from constituents who’ve been hurt be Obamacare,” he said. “Thankfully at the end of the process the Senate will have a chance to turn the page on this failed law.” Not ‘thankfully we will get to hear those stories.’
See this insidious little exchange between Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and McConnell [starts around 14 mins]:
Schumer: “Will we have time–more than 10 hours, since this is a complicated bill–to review the bill, will it be available to us and the public, more than ten hours before we have to vote for it? Since our leader has said that there will be plenty of time to make amendments, you need time to prepare those amendments.”
McConnell: “I think we’ll have ample opportunity to read and amend the bill.”
“Will it be more than ten hours?”
“I think we’ll have ample opportunity to read and amend the bill.”
“I rest my case.”
As Jezebel reported earlier today, Republicans are trying to push the bill through before the July 4th recess; Democrats are doing everything they can to halt business in the Senate so that the bill doesn’t come directly to the floor and slip through in little more than a day. Democrats held several hearings on the ACA and debated it on the floor for 25 days, the New York Times reports.
The above video of Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy, as performative as these things go, about sums up the discussion(?) if that’s what you call pleading with a small group of men who wield life-and-death powers over millions of people’s lives.
Why are my constituents not allowed to see the details of what’s about to happen to their lives? Why are only a select group of Americans able to have a voice inside that room? Why are the people of Connecticut going to get three minutes to look at this bill once it hits the Senate floor?
This has been tonight’s debate on the merits of democracy. Watch the whole thing here.
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