Rep. Chris Collins (R-NY) on Thursday said he did not read the full text of the Republican bill to repeal and replace Obamacare before voting to pass it through the House.
“The actual legislation, the language in this bill including the two amendments that were added to it, we only saw that language in the past 24 hours. Did you actually sit down and read the entire bill plus all of the amendments?” CNN’s Wolf Blitzer asked Collins.
“I will fully admit, Wolf, I did not but I can also assure you my staff did,” Collins replied. “We have to rely on our staff.”
“This legislation affects a fifth of the U.S. economy and millions and millions of Americans,” Blitzer said. “Don’t you think it was important to actually sit down and read the language of this bill?”
“You know, I have to rely on my staff,” Collins said again. “I can probably tell you that I read every word and I wouldn’t be telling you the truth nor would any other member.”
Collins said he was “comfortable” that he understood the legislation “without poring through every word.”
“We rely on our staff and we rely on our committees,” he said. “I’m just being quite honest. That’s the way it is.”
When the CBO Analysis come out, there will be real hell to pay by those who voted for this fetid POS. Constituents will be justifiably livid whether this ever becomes law or not.
I can not fathom what the hell Ryan et al were thinking about. Other that making Ryan and Trump ‘feel good’, there is no upside that I see to voting for this, None. Nada. Zero. Zilch.
“Don’t you think it was important to actually sit down and read the language of this bill?”
“Not as important as trying to score ourselves and Trump some sort of PR stunt illusion of a legislative win, no.”
I’ll admit, this is the first time I’m truly eager to see what the CBO says.
Fear of Trump’s retribution?
Good, I hope the media really nails them on this…they have made a huge deal over Pelosi’s remarks about passing the bill so people would know what was in it (which is a complete misinterpretation), and now the Republicans passed a bill without them even bothering to read it, much less understand it. Watching them try to explain the CBO report (which will be a disaster) and how they are trashing even employer provided health care, in light of not bothering to read the bill, will be rewarding…the Republicans deserve every bit of pain they are about to receive over this, and more.