Senator Harry Reid's Vapor Bill

All 40 Republican Senators signed a letter yesterday demanding to see the health care bill Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-Nev.) sent to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). Reid claimed he submitted the legislation for a CBO score on Monday. The letter from the Republican Caucus states that “our national debt stands at nearly $12 trillion, with a deficit of $1.4 trillion. The health care bill will likely be more than 1,000 pages long and is the single most important legislation we will consider and debate this year in Congress.” It is six days after Senator Reid said he sent the bill to the CBO. Where is the bill? Is this another Vapor Bill? Why are the American people prevented from reading the bill?

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) released an almost 2,000 pages of Obamacare, yet Reid refuses to release the Senate version of Obamacare. The Senators wrote that “with an issue this large and complex, we need full transparency at every stage in the legislative process. President Obama was elected, in part, on his promise to bring greater transparency to the workings of the federal government. The American people and every member of Congress should be allowed to read the bill that was sent to CBO.” The American people have a constitutional right to participate in this process and they can’t fully participate if they are not allowed to know the details of the bill.

The Senators demanded “that you immediately make all materials sent to CBO publicly available on the internet.” The theory on the Hill is that Reid has submitted many versions of Obamacare to CBO so that he can get the legislation that scores as the least expensive to the taxpayer. The American people and all 100 Senators should be allowed to read the bill now.