House Dems seethe at GOP plan for healthcare bill: ‘Where the hell is it?’

Democrats early Thursday slammed the House GOP for planning to fast-track consideration of their healthcare plan later in the day, even though the legislation still hasn’t been finalized.

Members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus are meeting at the White House Thursday morning to discuss a potential deal to eliminate the minimum insurance coverage requirements mandated by the 2010 law.

In the meantime, House GOP leaders canceled a morning conference meeting as they await a possible agreement, and Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) pushed back a press conference by four hours.

{mosads}But the House convened Thursday morning to debate approval of a floor procedure that will allow GOP leaders to bring legislation to the floor faster than would normally be allowed under the chamber’s rules.

The move sparked outrage from Democrats incensed that the GOP is trying to schedule a vote on major legislation to repeal and replace the nation’s healthcare system with minimal time for lawmakers to understand what it does.

“My question is, where the hell is it? Maybe it’s under the table. We haven’t seen it. And every time we get the bill, it changes. Maybe we ought to start with giving us the bill so people would know what the bill would do,” said Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) during floor debate.

House GOP leaders are determined to bring their bill on the seventh anniversary of ObamaCare and send it to the Senate as soon as possible.

The fast-track procedure, if approved Thursday, would allow the House to consider a rule approved out of the House Rules Committee that sets parameters for floor debate on the same day it comes out of the panel. Normally, the House has to wait a day before considering a measure produced out of the Rules Committee.

House Rules Committee Chairman Pete Sessions (R-Texas) maintained the GOP would produce a bill.

“We are going to try and pass this rule. We are going to try and explain what we’re doing. We are going to allow my team, our Republican conference, to get back together today because they, too, want to know what is the final deal. That is what my conference is doing right now,” Sessions said.

“Make no mistake about it. My party intends to bring forth an agreed-to bill that we will be able to show to the American people, and we will own it.”

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) said the fast-track procedure made the House feel like a scene out of the classic novel “Lord of the Flies.”

“The rules are there are no rules. It’s Lord of the Flies day here in the House of Representatives. They want to make us vote on a bill that no one’s even read. No one can find it. Anything goes,” Raskin said.