Diehl denies `secretive' health care bill, blasts Warren
State Rep. Geoffrey G. Diehl joined Boston Herald Radio’s “Morning Meeting” program yesterday to discuss his potential run against U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren in 2018, Obamacare reform and legalizing marijuana in Massachusetts.
Q: Elizabeth Warren has been making the Senate health care bill her main target and she’s been blasting the secretive process that it has gone through. Can you weigh in on that?
A: First of all, this is nothing like the secretive process that the 2,500-page bill went through when the Democrats rammed through Obamacare, when we had to pass it before we knew what was in it ... talk about the ultimate secret bill. But I know she’s been opposed to Republicans actually trying to fix the un-Affordable Care Act, which has been completely hamstringing not just families, but also states that are trying to afford this plan for their constituents. ... It’s unsustainable.
Q: Well it’s certainly helped her profile. It’s helped her sell books.
A: She’s written two books while she’s been in office on our dime and she’s made $1.6 million on that, so great for her. But again, I don’t know how anybody in the administration plans on working with Elizabeth Warren. ... She’s being asked to be re-elected in 2018 so she can spend the next two years on our dime campaigning for president for the United States. ... That should act as a warning signal to people that there is no help coming from Washington, D.C., for Massachusetts if we don’t change pace and elect a Republican to the congressional delegation.
Q: I do want to push back a little bit, because in terms of Obamacare at least, there were some public hearings. Do you think that the way that Senate Republicans have gone about this has been perfectly fine? And where are you on the process?
A: First of all, before the election took place with Donald Trump, there was already Ryancare plans with changes and there was already Donald Trump’s plan that was available for review. ... The fact that the Senate is now finally deciding to take it up is heartening. I don’t necessarily think that we’re going to have a bill passed through the Senate without ultimately knowing what’s in it.
Q: Where are you on taxing recreational marijuana at 28 percent vs. what the voters asked for in the fall?
A: I’m a will-of-the-voters person. ... I think that in this case, the voters certainly made their intent clear, they said 12 percent total tax rate. The House has a bill that puts it up to 28 percent, which more than doubles it, so I think that’s the wrong way to go.
‘The un-Affordable Care Act ... has been completely hamstringing not just families.’ — state Rep. Geoffrey G. Diehl