House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) deflected questions about Senate Republicans’ Obamacare repeal bill Thursday, saying that he had not real the legislative text released an hour earlier, and insisting he didn’t want to “opine on their process.”
“I’ve been briefed on the Senate version,” Ryan said at a press briefing, asked if he had seen the Senate’s bill, which could see a vote as soon as Thursday of next week despite having been drafted in near-total secrecy.
MSNBC’s Kristen Welker asked for the speaker’s reaction to the briefing on the text he had received.
“Believe me, I know how hard this process is, from personal experience,” Ryan said. “From what I understand, their bill tracks in many ways along the lines of the House bill. I think that’s very good. I’m not going to opine on their process. They gave us the space to go through our deliberative process, the last thing I want to do is be disrespectful of their process. They have a lengthy process ahead of them.”
“I think the bottom line is I want them to pass the bill so we can all get down with keeping our promise,” he added, before detailing what he said was Obamacare’s “tailspin” in Wisconsin.
“I’m very happy that the Senate has gone through the work of putting together a bill that keeps that promise,” Ryan continued, referring to the GOP’s timeworn refrain that it would repeal and replace Obamacare. “So yeah, I’m eager for them to pass it, but I’m not going to opine on the details as they go along.”
Welker pressed Ryan further, asking if he was satisfied with the secrecy in which the Senate’s legislative text was written.
“You release legislation after you’ve drafted legislation, not while you draft legislation,” he responded. “I think this is sort of a talking point in search of a problem. You don’t release a bill before you finish writing the bill. You write the bill, then you release the bill. That’s what the Senate’s done.
“But they want a vote next week, is that enough time for the American public to digest it and debate it?” Welker asked.
Ryan moved on without answering the question.
