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Some Republicans concerned by secrecy over Senate health care bill

Jacquelyn Martin / AP

As a committee of GOP senators formulates their health care bill they're keeping it hush hush — not holding hearings, not hosting drafting sessions, and not saying how it will differ from the bill the House passed last month — much to the chagrin of their Democratic counterparts, and even some Republicans are speaking out against the secrecy:

  • Lindsey Graham: "We know this is not the best way to do health care…But it's the way we're having to do it."
  • Rand Paul: "My preference would be a more open process in committees," he said, "with hearings and people on both sides."
  • Bob Corker: "I've said from Day 1, and I'll say it again…The process is better if you do it in public…"
  • Ron Johnson: "I want to know exactly what's in the Senate bill. I don't know yet…It's not a good process."
  • Lisa Murkowski said most of what she hears about the bill comes from reporters. "Yeah, I got a problem with it…If I'm not going to see a bill before we have a vote on it, that's just not a good way to handle something that is as significant and important as health care."
  • Bill Cassidy: "Would I have preferred a more open process? The answer is yes."
  • Jerry Moran: "I want every senator, all 100 of us, to have the chance to offer amendments, make suggestions, take votes."

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Photo illustration: Aïda Amer, Sarah Grillo/Axios. Photo: Zach Gibson/Getty Images

Beginning on election night 2020 and continuing through his final days in office, Donald Trump unraveled and dragged America with him, to the point that his followers sacked the U.S. Capitol with two weeks left in his term. This Axios series takes you inside the collapse of a president.

Episode 5: Trump vs. Gina — The president becomes increasingly rash and devises a plan to tamper with the nation's intelligence command.

In his final weeks in office, after losing the election to Joe Biden, President Donald Trump embarked on a vengeful exit strategy that included a hasty and ill-thought-out plan to jam up CIA Director Gina Haspel by firing her top deputy and replacing him with a protege of Republican Congressman Devin Nunes.

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Biden Cabinet confirmation schedule: When to watch hearings

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris on Jan. 16 in Wilmington, Delaware. Photo: Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images

The first hearings for President-elect Joe Biden's Cabinet nominations begin on Tuesday, with testimony from his picks to lead the departments of State, Homeland and Defense.

Why it matters: It's been a slow start for a process that usually takes place days or weeks earlier for incoming presidents. The first slate of nominees will appear on Tuesday before a Republican-controlled Senate, but that will change once the new Democratic senators-elect from Georgia are sworn in.

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