The National Association of Elder Law Attorneys, “NAELA,” which is in no way a partisan organization, is reporting this morning as follows:
“Health care groups are decrying Republican senators for closing their doors to the public as they write legislation repealing and replacing ObamaCare. Senate Republicans are not holding public hearings or committee markups for their bill, a major departure from the traditional lawmaking process. Health care groups fear the final product will be released just a couple of days before the vote, minimizing time for feedback or for opposition to build. “There are lots of discussions happening behind closed doors, but it seems to be fairly well confined to the Senate itself,” said Dick Woodruff, vice president of federal relations for the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network. Aides say Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is expected to send a draft bill to the Congressional Budget Office early this week, but he is not expected to publicly release the measure. Several interest groups said they were having no trouble scheduling meetings with Senate Republican staff and that the staffers generally appeared open to input. But many rank-and-file staffers themselves do not know what the emerging health care plan is, the groups said. Republican senators received a presentation of an outline of the health bill at their conference lunch last week, but Woodruff said even that information is tightly held.”