Quotables
John McCain jokes that more Russians than Americans have probably seen the Senate health-care bill
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) got salty Tuesday when Bloomberg asked him if he'd seen his party's plan to repeal and replace ObamaCare. "No, nor have I met any American that has," McCain said, referring to the GOP-backed health-care plan. "I'm sure the Russians have been able to hack in and gotten most of it."
While McCain might have been the only Republican senator to bring up Russia, he certainly isn't the only one frustrated with the party leadership's lack of transparency over the American Health Care Act. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) told Bloomberg that he thinks "it might be time to get the copier out." "We still haven't seen the bill," Paul said. He predicted that "using a one-party approach is setting up failure over the long term."
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) admitted the secrecy surrounding the bill has her worried. "This is like a really big deal to get this right for the country," Murkowski said. "You're asking me questions about something that neither one of us know what it looks like. Doesn't that worry you as a reporter? You don't even know how to frame the questions. I don't know how to frame the responses."
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced Tuesday that the bill will be released Thursday morning. A vote is expected next week.