Senate GOP won't release draft health care bill

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Tuesday, 13 June 2017

quote [ Senate Republicans are working to finish their draft health care bill, but have no plans to publicly release it, according to two senior Senate GOP aides.

"We aren't stupid," said one of the aides. One issue is that Senate Republicans plan to keep talking about it after the draft is done: "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." ]

So-called moderate Senate republicans have already folded on the Medicaid cuts in the A.H.C.A. Get ready for some fine 40-grit sandpaper lube.

[SFW] [politics]	[+2]
[by knumbknutz@6:53pmGMT]

Comments

sanepride said^[1] @ 7:54pm GMT on 13th Jun [Score:2]

Reveal

Television reporters told to stop filming in Senate hallways, prompting outcry
By Elise Viebeck June 13 at 1:55 PM

Television reporters covering the Capitol were told Tuesday to stop filming interviews in Senate hallways, a dramatic break with tradition as lawmakers face pressure to respond to journalists’ inquiries about President Trump, health-care legislation and other matters.

Correspondents from major television networks said staff from the Senate Radio and Television Gallery told them they could no longer conduct impromptu interviews with lawmakers in the hallways without prior authorization from the Senate Rules Committee and the lawmakers’ own staff.

“Reporters were in hallways this morning per usual. Gallery staff were dispatched to issue verbal directive: Stop filming,” Kasie Hunt, a congressional reporter with NBC News, wrote on Twitter. “Gallery staff told us the decision was from the Senate Rules Committee and to call them for future interview permission.”

Other reporters shared similar experiences.

“I was just told I cannot stand outside of the Budget Committee hearing room to interview lawmakers,” Bloomberg TV chief Washington correspondent Kevin Cirilli wrote on Twitter. He added he had scheduled an interview with Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.) that was “canned last second” because of the alert.

The Senate Radio and TV Gallery, which helps to manage the logistics of networks’ presence on Capitol Hill, declined to comment. “I’ve got no news for you,” a staffer at the gallery told The Post. She declined to give her name and hung up.

Gallery director Mike Mastrian did not respond to several other requests for comment.

Rules Committee Chairman Sen. Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.) denied his panel has placed any additional restrictions on reporters.

“The Rules Committee has made no changes to the existing rules governing press coverage on the Senate side of the Capitol complex,” Shelby said in a statement.

“The Committee has been working with the various galleries to ensure compliance with existing rules in an effort to help provide a safe environment for Members, the press corps, staff and constituents as they travel from Senate offices to the Capitol. Once again, no additional restrictions have been put in place by the Rules Committee.”

The apparent change in practice comes as the number of reporters on Capitol Hill has increased dramatically, reflecting the high stakes facing Republicans as they respond to controversies involving Trump and attempt to advance their policy agenda.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (Minn.), the ranking Democrat on the Rules Committee, told reporters the policy was not formal and that Shelby had called it a “staff inquiry.” She said Shelby hadn’t notified her of any changes, but assured her over the phone on Tuesday that he wouldn’t move forward on a major shift without first consulting her.

“He seemed to imply they weren’t going to change the policy, but I’m not going to put words in his mouth,” Klobuchar told reporters.

Were Shelby to go forward with the new press restrictions, Klobuchar said she would oppose it, calling it an “assault on the First Amendment.”

“You don’t shut down the press if you don’t want to do interviews,” she said. “You just say ‘I don’t want to do interviews today.’”

Both Klobuchar and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) insinuated that Republicans want to reduce press access because they’re involved in crafting an unpopular, partisan health-care bill.

“They’re trying to keep senators from being held accountable with respect to health-care policy, and I think it runs contrary to the openness and transparency the American people deserve,” Wyden told reporters.

A bevy of Senate Democrats condemned the restrictions that were communicated Tuesday morning to reporters.

“Press access should never be restricted unfairly, particularly not when one party is trying to sneak a major bill through Congress,” Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) wrote on Twitter, alluding to the Republican health-care bill.

“This is cowardly and unilateral,” Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) wrote on Twitter.

“Maybe worried you [journalists] will catch the group of guys writing health care bill in backroom somewhere,” Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) wrote on Twitter.

Echoing Shelby, Republican staff director of the Rules Committee Bill Duhnke denied the panel had authorized additional restrictions on reporters.

UPDATE: Senate ban on TV reporters has been rescinded.
From the updated version of the article posted here:
Television reporters covering the Capitol were told midday Tuesday to stop filming interviews in Senate hallways, a dramatic and unexplained break with tradition that was soon reversed amid wide rebuke from journalists, Democratic lawmakers and advocacy organizations.

knumbknutz said @ 8:16pm GMT on 13th Jun [Score:1 Underrated]

That one should be it's own post methinks

Fish said @ 11:48pm GMT on 14th Jun

"amid wide rebuke from journalists, Democratic lawmakers and advocacy organizations."

Too many commas in that sentence. What's become of grammar?

mechanical contrivance said @ 1:18pm GMT on 15th Jun

There aren't too many commas in that sentence.

ComposerNate said @ 7:33pm GMT on 13th Jun

All of this will be for nothing when the Democrats take back control or we all burn.

ComposerNate said @ 8:05pm GMT on 13th Jun

I had decided Trump would start a war when his approval hit 37%. It's now dropped to 38.1% averaged.

hellboy said @ 9:11pm GMT on 13th Jun

He just set a record for the fastest time to hit 60% disapproval per Gallup: 143 days, vs 1758 for Dubya and 1736 for Nixon.

Reagan, Clinton, and Obama were never so unpopular.

Fish said @ 11:49pm GMT on 14th Jun [Score:-1 Boring]
filtered comment under your threshold

satanspenis666 said^[1] @ 9:16pm GMT on 13th Jun

Meet the GOP senator who wants to bridge the Obamacare divide

Luckily, there are three GOP senators that oppose a basic repeal.

1	ScoobySnacks
2	HoZay
3	Paracetamol
4	lilmookieesquire
5	Ankylosaur