Obamacare Bill Being Kept in Secure Location
SEN. RAND PAUL (R), KENTUCKY: We're here today because I would like to read the Obamacare bill. If you recall when Obamacare was passed in 2010, 2009, 2010, Nancy Pelosi said you'll know what's in it after we passed it. The Republican Party shouldn't act in the same way. We want to see the bill. We have many objections.</s>CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, there was a sense of theatricality to it but this was real. Senator Rand Paul was protesting outside the room where members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee were privately hammering out details for the Obamacare bill and he wanted to see it and there's all this talk of hey, go to this room, and people going there but no bill. Let's bring in CNN political analyst and reporter for the "Washington Post," Abby Phillip, and CNN political analyst and author of "How's Your Faith," David Gregory. It is only funny because it is true that it wasn't just Paul. He did it in a big way. He wanted journalists there. He wanted to make a scene out it and it worked.</s>ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: There's Steny Hoyer.</s>CUOMO: Steny Hoyer went into it. I think he was on Facebook Live doing it.</s>CAMEROTA: Let's watch it. Just for a minute. This is also funny. So he's looking for this secret room. He's going for room to room to figure out where the Obamacare replacement bill is. Watch Steny Hoyer.</s>REP. STENY HOYER (D), MARYLAND: That's not democracy. That's not good for our people. I know, Mr. Lincoln, you are as upset with your party as I am.</s>CUOMO: Steny Hoyer is a Democrat but he's talking to a bust of Lincoln. This was real, though, about what's going on. And it gets to the truth of the matter of -- one of two things are true. Either they are so worried about this plan getting picked apart before they can sell it or they do not have a finalized working understanding of how to replace the ACA. Which do you think it is?</s>DAVID GREGORY, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: It could be a third thing which is this is why people hate Washington because they go around talking to --</s>CUOMO: Well, that could be true regardless of what the answer is.</s>GREGORY: I think there's an element of both of that. I mean, there's obviously -- the specter of Republicans, not just Democrats, complaining about this whole process is kind of a communications breakdown among the Republican ranks on this. You know, I think perhaps bill is not completely ready yet and I think they understand -- the Republican leadership understands as soon as it is put out there Newt Gingrich is on last night on another network saying look, within 24 hours this thing is going to be scrutinized so heavily that they're going to have a sense of what's good in the bill, what's bad in the bill, what needs to come out so I think they are deliberately trying to keep that out of the public eye. Look, the big issue here is Republicans. What they're talking about is a replacement plan is will it really cover the same amount of people.</s>CAMEROTA: Yes.</s>GREGORY: And do you end up creating a new subsidy. A new entitlement which is going to absolutely freak the conservatives out. And they may have to really -- I talk to Republican here last night who said, you know, look, conservatives may just have to swallow hard and take it and even if they object it because this is what the president may actually want.</s>CAMEROTA: But, Abby, why are they hiding from Rand Paul?</s>CAMEROTA: I mean, I understand Steny Hoyer. They don't want Democrats to see it if it's not fully baked yet. But why are they hiding from Rand Paul?</s>ABBY PHILLIP, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: There are a lot of Rand Pauls both in the House and the Senate. There are people in the Republican Party who are not comfortable with a lot of the things that the Republicans are going to have to do in order to get this bill passed and Rand Paul is really principle among them. He is one of those sort of libertarian-leaning conservatives who's going to resist a lot of the things that are necessary to sort of create structure around the health care industry so that it doesn't collapse if they pull the rug under Obamacare. And so, you know, House leaders working on this bill in conjunction with the White House are trying to get something together that they can -- that cobble together enough support just -- it might be just enough support really and they can't do that if every single day bits and pieces of this bill are out there being torn apart. That being said I think, you know, Rand Paul has a point that doing this in secret does not bode well for the process. And I think that it's going to create political problems in and of itself for Republicans who, you know, a couple of years ago who are facing constituents saying, how dare you sign a bill that you haven't even bothered to read.</s>CAMEROTA: Yes.</s>PHILIP: And this -- I think this is going to be -- this issue in and of itself is going to come up again. No doubt about it.</s>GREGORY: The question is, can the president overcome this so he can get on to bigger issues that he wants to accomplish like tax reform which also have some controversy? Like a big infrastructure spend. Because you can spend all of your time being torn apart by Obamacare between the conservatives who say we just want to repeal it, not replace it, and those who are in the process of replacing it by creating a new subsidy, a new entitlement, which really affect most of the conservatives.</s>CUOMO: But it goes to the center of your economic profile as a family.</s>GREGORY: Yes.</s>CUOMO: This could very well winding up being right up there with your mortgage as the biggest part of your nut. We just had on a pretty fair broker, I think, Republican senator Shelly Moore Caputo, and she said yes, I'm familiar with the details, I feel good with where we're going, and then she said Medicaid expansion, West Virginia she is the senator from.</s>GREGORY: Yes.</s>CUOMO: Those poor states needed money to be given by the federal government to them to expand their coverage of poor people. You cannot have Medicaid expansion the way it is right now with tax credits to individuals unless you almost double the cost of Medicare.</s>GREGORY: Right.</s>CUOMO: But she said yes, I think that Medicaid expansion will stay the way it is and yes, you're going to get tax credits for people. I don't know how they sell that.</s>GREGORY: You see, that's a huge federal subsidy, right?</s>CUOMO: Huge.</s>GREGORY: I mean, expansion of Medicaid on top of new tax credits. No, that becomes a huge issue.</s>CAMEROTA: Abby, David, thank you both for very much. Great to talk to you. So the other top story we're following is this, that U.S. officials say that this man is a top Russian spy. However, Moscow says their ambassador is a, quote, "world-class diplomat." Who is Sergey Kislyak. We have a life report from Moscow, next.