Republican Senator Confirms ‘There Is No Three-Phase Process’
Republican Senator Tom Cotton on Tuesday shot down the claim from the White House and Paul Ryan that there is a secret “three-phase” health plan.
“There is no three-phase process. There is no three-step plan. That is just political talk. It’s just politicians engaging in spin,” Cotton told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt.
Health and Human Service Secretary Tom Price said on NBC’s “Today,” that Republicans have a “three-part plan.” Price tried to argue that the CBO report showing 24 million people losing insurance under the Republican plan is not complete because the the two remaining steps are not accounted for.
Cotton also argued that any administrative changes would be “subject to court challenge, and therefore, perhaps the whims of the most liberal judge in America.”
And on the third step of getting 60 votes for additional health care legislation described it as “some mythical legislation in the future that is going to garner Democratic support and help us get over 60 votes in the Senate.”
“If we had those Democratic votes, we wouldn’t need three steps. We would just be doing that right now on this legislation altogether,” Cotton continued. “That’s why it’s so important that we get this legislation right, because there is no step three. And step two is not completely under our control.”
And regarding the correctness of the CBO numbers, Cotton said they often get the numbers wrong but that they are “directionally correct” that people will lose their health insurance under the plan.
“They’re right that coverage levels will go down in the coming years under the House bill. They’re also right, I’m afraid, that insurance premiums will continue to go up in the near term, for three to four years, before they start perhaps falling in the long term,” he said. “However, I suspect that the political consequences of those near term changes means that the long term will never actually arrive.”
