White House press secretary Sean Spicer emphasized that House Republicans’ proposal to replace Obamacare would follow “regular order” and that “we are not jamming this down anybody’s throat.”
“This is the bill. It’s right here. It’s on the website. We are going through regular order,” Spicer said, pointing to a stack of paper to his right. “If you go to the House of Representatives’ website, Speaker Paul Ryan’s website, it’s listed. Everybody can read it, and it’s going to go through what they call regular order.”
“We are not jamming this down anybody’s throat,” he continued. “It is going to go through a committee process. All parties involved, all representatives in the House will be able to have input into it. I think that’s the way to conduct this process, is to do it to allow people to watch the process happen in the committees, allow members of Congress to have their input in it to make amendments, to see that we get the best bill that achieves the goal for the American people.”
“Regular order” is a nebulous term, but Republicans in recent years have contrasted it to the process which led to the Affordable Care Act.
“You’ll recall then-Speaker Pelosi said ‘you are going to have to read the bill to know what’s in it.’ I think there’s a big difference,” Spicer said while using the term.
Still, the two committees in which Republican proposals to replace Obamacare have been submitted – Energy and Commerce and Ways and Means – have scheduled votes on the proposals for Wednesday.
That means the first votes on the health care proposal could take place before the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office releases an important analysis of the its cost and affects on coverage numbers.
