--- title: Health Care Bill: Senate Historian Says Unusually Secret description: The level of secrecy in crafting the Senate's health care bill has not been seen since before World War I, according to a Senate historian. canonical: https://time.com/4825313/health-care-bill-history/ author: Jack Brewster article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-06-20T18:57:09.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T16:14:04.940Z article:section: Politics og:title: The Retired Senate Historian Said the Health Care Law Breaks With a Century of Tradition og:description: On transparency. og:url: https://time.com/4825313/health-care-bill-history/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6eb7456c9bed8c6a/6988d1f0bc6cfcb44b3e1de5/170615-senate-health-bill-mitch-mcconnell.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 170615-senate-health-bill-mitch-mcconnell og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Retired Senate Historian Said the Health Care Law Breaks With a Century of Tradition twitter:description: On transparency. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6eb7456c9bed8c6a/6988d1f0bc6cfcb44b3e1de5/170615-senate-health-bill-mitch-mcconnell.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Retired Senate Historian Said the Health Care Law Breaks With a Century of Tradition by [Jack Brewster](https://time.com/author/jack-brewster/) ## Jack Brewster Jun 20, 2017 6:57 PM UTC  Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., is trying to build consensus on an Obamacare repeal bill. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., is trying to build consensus on an Obamacare repeal bill.J. Scott Applewhite—AP by [Jack Brewster](https://time.com/author/jack-brewster/) ## Jack Brewster Jun 20, 2017 6:57 PM UTC The level of secrecy in crafting the Senate’s health care bill has not been seen since before World War I, according to esteemed Senate historian emeritus Donald Ritchie. Ritchie, [who worked in the Senate Historical Office for nearly four decades](https://origin-nyi.thehill.com/homenews/senate/234819-senate-historian-donald-ritchie-to-retire), told the [_Los Angeles_ _Times_](http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-republicans-obamacare-secrecy-20170616-story.html) that the upper chamber has not drafted such a major piece of legislation behind closed doors since a tariff reform effort during the presidency of Woodrow Wilson. He added that Senate Democrats tried the move again during the Great Depression, but they were derailed when rank-and-file senators were unwilling to go along with the maneuver. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said there is nothing out of the ordinary about the way Republicans are working on the bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act. “Nobody’s hiding the ball here,” [he said recently](http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-republicans-obamacare-secrecy-20170616-story.html). “You’re free to ask anybody anything.” Still, Senate [Democrats](http://time.com/4824687/health-care-senate-speeches-democrats/) and even some Republicans have said the current process is not transparent, especially compared with the [nearly 15 months](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/15/us/politics/secrecy-surrounding-senate-health-bill-raises-alarms-in-both-parties.html?%5Fr=0) of debate that preceded passage of the Affordable Care Act. 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