Grand Opaque Party

While Senate Republicans work in secret to write legislation slashing the health coverage of millions of Americans, even the President has now admitted the truth about the House-passed bill that serves as the foundation for their work. Tuesday, Trump reportedly told GOP senators that the House bill he grinningly celebrated in the Rose Garden last month (“This is a great plan”) is too “mean,” saying the Senate version must be “more generous.”

So, the Senate will not slash Medicaid, which provides health insurance to the poor, by hundreds of billions of dollars? Will not burden 60-something Americans with massive insurance bills they can’t hope to afford? Will not gut coverage for millions with preexisting conditions? Hold your breath. The generosity of which Trump speaks should begin by letting the poor public, for whom senators work, learn about what might be in store for them.

Perhaps the Senate — Mitch McConnell, majority leader — has heard of hearings.

Instead, McConnell drew the exact wrong lesson from the public relations shellacking the House got after ramming its Obamacare-repealing bill through sans public review.

Rather than open up the process, McConnell’s working group has huddled behind closed doors, with no committee consideration, no debate and, apparently, no plans for amendments when the plan gets to the floor.

For a few hours Tuesday, they even tried barring filmed hallway interviews with senators. It took reporters expressing their outrage, and embarrassed members unable to defend their leaders’ decisions, for McConnell & Co. to reverse course.

If only they could be similarly shamed out of stripping health coverage from millions of Americans.