July 27, 2017 03:11 PM UTC

Sen. Michael Bennet: "Where's The Bill?"

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• by: Colorado Pols

Here’s an excerpt from Sen. Michael Bennet’s speech on the floor of the U.S. Senate today, lambasting Republicans for breaking all of their own rules to pass legislation to repeal the Affordable Care Act–and contrasting the opaque process Republicans are engaged in today with lengthy public debate in 2009-10:

But really…where’s the bill? pic.twitter.com/ozXKJdW2cJ

— Michael F. Bennet (@SenBennetCO) July 27, 2017

BENNET: I don’t understand the impulse of writing the bill in secret, not having–listen to this, folks–not having a single committee hearing! Not one committee hearing in the Senate! Talk about “read the bill,” how about have a bill that’s written down on paper so we can read it? Where are my brethren in the Tea Party that wanted to read the other bill? There was a bill then! There had been a bill for a year and a half. There’s no bill!

At this point, both sides in the Senate are talking past each other–but you’ve got to agree that Bennet has a strong point. After complaining for years about the supposed “closed-door” secrecy in which the ACA was debated, Republicans have embarked on a process so secretive that there haven’t even been committee hearings on the legislation. If Democrats had tried to pass the ACA with the same non-process, Republicans would have called for a revolution. You’ll recall they very nearly did anyway.

Watch the rest of Bennet’s speech below. Who will take issue with him on the merits? We’d like to see it.