Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) invited Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to an all-senators meeting next week to discuss the Republican effort pass a health care bill.
“On behalf of the Senate Democratic Caucus, I write to request that you and the Republican Conference attend an All-Senators meeting next week on the topic of health care,” Schumer wrote in a letter dated June 15. Schumer crossed out “Majority Leader McConnell,” at the top of his letter, replacing it in handwriting with “MITCH.”
“Now, more than ever, Republicans and Democrats need to come together to find solutions to America’s challenges,” Schumer added.
Senate Republicans’ health bill has been written largely in secret by the GOP conference, who have held details of its contents close to the chest, revealing very little to their Democratic counterparts and members of the media, to a great deal of frustration. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) completed a procedural move on June 7 to ensure the bill could move directly to the Senate floor as soon as it was ready for a vote.
Schumer wrote later in the letter: “[W]e are dismayed at the reports that there will be no public hearings on your proposed changes to the American health care system.”
Read Schumer’s letter to McConnell below:
This post has been updated