House Republicans have another draft health bill ready — but this time they are keeping it under lock and key, according to a Bloomberg report.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee will allow members to view the bill in an exclusive reading room Thursday — and only in that reading room. They are not allowed to take copies of the bill out of the room, according to the report.
The security provisions around this draft are likely in place to avoid another leak-and-critique scenario, according to the report. Last Friday, a draft reconciliation bill was leaked, only to be publicly criticized by Republican conservatives and governors who disagreed with specific provisions of the draft. Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., said Tuesday that bill was no longer a valid working draft. However, the public is still in the dark about what updates have been made.
President Donald Trump offered no additional details in his joint address to Congress Tuesday evening, though he reiterated his support for refundable tax credits — one of the provisions of the leaked draft Republican conservatives said they could not support.
Despite the commotion, House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said the House is conducting business as usual.
"We're not writing some bill in the backroom, in [former Democratic Senator of Nevada] Harry Reid's office, like Obamacare was written," Speaker Ryan said on the TODAY Show. "This is how the legislative process is supposed to be designed — not hatching some bill in the backroom and then plopping it on the American people's front door."
House Energy and Commerce Committee member Rep. Chris Collins, R-N.Y., said the panel plans to begin marking up the new draft as early as next week, according to the report. The draft also needs to be evaluated by the Congressional Budget Office, but Rep. Collins said the panel plans to begin the markup before receiving a CBO score.
Meanwhile, the House Ways and Means panel is drafting a different part of the repeal, which will eventually merge with what the Energy and Commerce Committee is working on, according to the report.
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