Republican Sen. Roy Blunt, the vice chair of the Senate Republican Conference, said Thursday that Senate Republicans had “no reason” to spend a lot time working with Democrats on health care because they shut themselves out of the process.
“They shut themselves out, they said they clearly were not gonna be part of anything (inaudible) Obamacare,” Bunt said on “Morning Newswatch” on local Missouri radio KZRG. “There’s no reason to spend a lot of time trying to negotiate with somebody who is not gonna be for the repair that you’re doing and replacement that you’re doing.”
Blunt said that Republicans in Washington have spent months trying to find a plan that half the Senate could support.
“And also, because of that, we’re having to do this under some restrained rules where it has to be more about spending than policy, and that’s why you would be able to pass this with 50 senators and the Vice President or 51 senators,” Blunt said.
Senate Republicans on Thursday revealed their draft bill to repeal and replace Obamacare. The secretive process by which the bill was crafted has led to criticism from both Republican and Democratic lawmakers.