On the recordMarch 7, 2017
Mr. Speaker, the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Sanford), my friend, opposes the bill because the CBO scoring process, which came up with a no-cost estimate for this bill, the contention is that that CBO study was insufficient. Well, I am sure that my colleague and friend from South Carolina will agree with me that with no CBO scoring for this congressional Republican healthcare repeal bill that they have put forward, then we are certainly not in a position to proceed further with a fast-track legislating process, as this bill seems to be on. They are going to mark it up with no hearings. When we were dealing with the Affordable Care Act, we held 79 hearings over 2 years, heard from 181 witnesses from both sides of the aisle, and posted the bill online for 30 days. The CBO scoring actually showed that this bill was going to save money, as opposed to cost. Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleague from South Carolina to be in opposition to his own party's healthcare repeal bill. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the kind gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Kennedy), my friend.
