House GOP Keeps Latest Obamacare Repeal Plan Shrouded In Secrecy After Earlier Draft Leaked

Bloomberg reports:

House Republican leaders have a new version of their major Obamacare repeal and replacement bill. They just don’t want you to see it.

The document is being treated a bit like a top-secret surveillance intercept. It is expected to be available to members and staffers on the House Energy and Commerce panel starting Thursday, but only in a dedicated reading room, one Republican lawmaker and a committee aide said. Nobody will be given copies to take with them.

The unusual secrecy is a reflection of the sensitivity — and the stakes — surrounding the GOP effort to rewrite the Affordable Care Act, a top priority of President Donald Trump, who has yet to offer his own plan. Republican leaders are trying to avoid a repeat of what happened last time. When an outdated draft leaked last week, it was quickly panned by conservatives.

Pelosi tweaking GOP on Obamacare draft "they are hiding the bill in the basement"and again citing Rand Paul complaints

— Deirdre Walsh (@deirdrewalshcnn) March 2, 2017

House to make #ACA repeal plan available to GOP members in basement of office bldg. adjoining Capitol this morning https://t.co/7CFjpDkIF6

— John Corlett (@CommunitySolsED) March 2, 2017

The GOP's new Obamacare bill is so terrific they are literally hiding it in the basement https://t.co/43qfPk1KoB

— Jonathan Cohn (@CitizenCohn) March 2, 2017