Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), who has repeatedly argued that the House should have spent more time on the bill, credited Democrats on Sunday for a “careful and deliberate approach” when they drafted the Affordable Care Act back in 2009.
“When the Democrats came to power in 2009, for 60 years at least, they had been pursuing a national healthcare system, yet they didn’t introduce legislation for eight months, and they didn’t pass it for over a year of Barack Obama’s first term,” he said.
“So it went through very public hearings and took testimony, developed fact based foundation of knowledge, President Obama traveled around the country, held town halls and spoke to a joint session of Congress,” the senator added. “I am not saying we needed 14 months to do this, but I think a more careful and deliberate approach, which we now have time to do because we are going to have to revisit healthcare anyway, would have gotten us further down the path to a solution.”