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 As the Senate begins to wrestle with a Republican healthcare bill
narrowly approved by the House of Representatives last week,
senators questioned why the 13-member working group put together by
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell does not include any of the
chamber's five Republican women.
"Women's health is a big part of this and women are a majority of
the population, and their health interests deserve to be
contemplated in any reform," Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein of
California said on NBC's "Meet the Press."
Democratic Senator Patty Murray of Washington wrote on Twitter: "It
matters to have women at the table — and it matters when they
aren't."
Republicans pushed their healthcare restructuring through the House
on a 217-213 vote, handing President Donald Trump his first major
legislative success.
But the bill faces an uncertain future in the Senate, where
Republicans have a narrow majority and several members have
suggested they will develop their own plans. Democrats are united in
opposition to the House bill.
Trump pledged on Sunday that the effort to gut former President
Barack Obama's signature healthcare law would be successful.
"Republican Senators will not let the American People down!," he
wrote on Twitter. "ObamaCare premiums and deductibles are way up-it
was a lie and it is dead!"
The Senate's healthcare working group includes the Republican
leadership, several committee chairmen and a combination of
conservatives such as Ted Cruz of Texas and more moderate
Republicans from politically important swing states such as Rob
Portman of Ohio and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania.
Critics said the group's lack of diversity would eliminate crucial
viewpoints.
"The GOP is crafting policy on an issue that directly impacts women
without including a single woman in the process. It's wrong,"
Democratic Senator Kamala Harris of California wrote on Twitter on
Saturday.
Don Stewart, a senior aide to McConnell, said critics were getting
"hung up on process" while ignoring the problems of Obamacare such
as higher costs and limited choices.
"So you can get caught up in process, or you can focus on the actual
reality," Stewart said in an email on Sunday.
Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine, who has been working on
her own healthcare plan, said she was reaching out to moderate
Democrats to try to find common ground. She did not criticize the
working group's all-male make-up but said she wanted to see a
broader effort to replace Obama's 2010 healthcare law.
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"I would like to see us put together a bipartisan group to solve
this problem, of Democrats who acknowledge there are problems with
the current law, that it is not working well in several states, and
Republicans who also want to make sure that we're not reducing
coverage and we're giving flexibility," Collins said on ABC's "This
Week."
'ABSOLUTELY SLAMMED'
Senators have questioned aspects of the House bill, which would
slash funding for Medicaid, the program that provides insurance for
the poor, and roll back much of its expansion during the Obama
administration.
It also would allow states to opt out of some existing protections
for people with pre-existing health conditions. While insurers could
not deny insurance because of such conditions, they would be allowed
to decide how much to charge.
Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, one of the most moderate
Democrats in the Senate, said his state "gets absolutely slammed" in
the House bill because it has a lot of elderly residents and people
with pre-existing conditions.
"I just want to work and sit down and try to get something done, but
no one's asked us," he said on CBS's "Face the Nation" program. "Our
congressional delegation says, 'don't worry, the Senate will fix
it.' And no one has asked any Democrat. And I am the most centrist."
White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus said the White House would
not dictate the process.
"I think we want to let them do their work, let them work this out.
They are all very mature. They all know what is going on. They all
know the commitments we have made to the American people to repeal
and replace a failing program in Obamacare," he said on the "Fox
News Sunday" program.
(Additional reporting by Howard Schneider; Editing by Caren Bohan
and Paul Simao)
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