Mr. Paul supports repealing the Affordable Care Act,
but said the measure described publicly by House Republican leaders included “Democratic ideas dressed up in Republican clothing.”
“I can’t find the bill,” he said, adding, “I know, Mr. Lincoln, you are as upset with your party as I am today.”
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Speaking on the House floor on Jan. 13, Representative Doug Collins of Georgia, the vice chairman of the House Republican Conference, said the health law had been enacted “after months of back-room deals, in the middle of the night, last-minute deals,
and without giving the American people enough time to even read the bill.”
“That is not what is going to happen this time,” he said.
The Energy and Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over Medicaid,
and the Ways and Means Committee, which is responsible for tax legislation, are tentatively scheduled to vote next week on the repeal bill, setting the stage for the full House to vote on it later this month, House Republican leaders said.
“We are going to mark up the legislation next week,” said Representative Billy Long, Republican of Missouri
and a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, after a closed-door meeting of House Republicans.
Republicans, he said, “are continuing to discuss and refine draft legislative language.”
Asked if he was hiding the bill, Representative Kevin Brady, Republican of Texas
and chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, said: “We don’t have a bill.