Pat Roberts Pleads For Three-Day Delay So Lobbyists Can Read Health Care Legislation (VIDEO)

Pat Roberts Pleads For Three-Day Delay So Lobbyists Can Read Health Care Legislation (VIDEO)

Senate Finance Committee member Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) earnestly pleaded on Wednesday for the committee to delay a vote on its version of health care reform until after the proposed legislation has been up on the committee's website for at least three days.

"The thing I'm trying to point out," said Roberts, "is that we would have at least 72 hours for the people that the providers have hired to keep up with all of the legislation that we pass around here, and the regulations that we pass around here, to say, 'Hey, wait a minute. Have you considered this?' That's all I'm asking for."

Hard to imagine that "the people that the providers have hired to keep up with all of the legislation" means anything other than lobbyists from the health industry.

The statement is odd not only for its candor, but also for the fact that as far as anyone knows, the lobbyists are the ones writing the finance committee's bill to begin with. They should be pretty familiar with what's in there by now.

On MSNBC's "Countdown," guest host Lawrence O'Donnell ticked off a variety of other delay tactics used by opponents of health care reform during Wednesday's Senate Finance Committee mark-up. Watch the video, and his subsequent interview with Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio):

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