Democrats are roundly criticizing the Republican plan to scrap the Obama healthcare law.
Minority Leader Chuck Schumer spoke on the Senate floor Thursday moments after the GOP's 142-page discussion draft was posted online. Republicans had been briefed on the plan behind closed doors.
"The Senate Republican bill is a wolf in sheep’s clothing, only this wolf has even sharper teeth than the House bill," Mr. Schumer said on the Senate floor. "And we're potentially voting on it in a week. No committee hearings, no amendments in committee, no debate on the floor save for t10 measly hours on one of the most important bill in decades. That brings shame on this body."
Schumer says, "We live in the wealthiest country on earth. Surely we can do better than what the Republican health care bill promises."
Schumer noted several Republican senators, including Marco Rubio, Bill Cassidy, Rand Paul, Lindsey Graham and Bob Corker, whom do not care for the “unfair, truncated, rushed” process of drafting the bill..
“Many of them on the Republican side are learning the details of the bill the same way we Democrats are. They’re reading it today,” Schumer said.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi assails the GOP bill as a tax break for wealthy Americans.
The bill would eliminate the requirement that Americans buy insurance or face a tax penalty.