House Speaker Paul Ryan on Sunday dismissed as “bogus” criticism by Democrats accusing Republicans of rushing through the Obamacare repeal-and-replace bill.
“I think this is kind of a bogus attack from the left,” the Wisconsin Republican said on ABC’s “This Week.”
The House passed Thursday the American Health Care Act without committee hearings or a Congressional Budget Office score on the final version, but Mr. Ryan said the bulk of the legislation has been online since March, allowing ample time for analysis.
“The final version was an amendment that was three pages long. It takes you 30 seconds to read,” he said. “By the way, Obamacare was over 2,000 pages. This bill is under 200 pages. It doesn’t take long to go through this bill.”
After years of taking flak from the GOP over Obamacare, Democrats were quick to turn the table on Republicans after several admitted they had not read the entire bill.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was pilloried for saying in 2010 “we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it,” referring the Affordable Care Act.
Mr. Ryan said the Republican health care bill received two CBO scores, and that “the most recent CBO score showed that we’re perfectly in compliance with the Senate budget rules, which is what matters here.”
“And this last amendment, a three-page amendment, is not going to dramatically alter that score,” he said. “It was narrow changes to the bill that has been online for quite some time.”
The legislation, championed by President Trump and approved 217-213 by the House with no Democratic “yes” votes, now goes to the Senate.
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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