--- title: John McCain Jokes About Russians Hacking Senate Health Bill description: John McCain says he hasn't seen the Senate's version of the American Health Care Act - but wouldn't be surprised if the Russians have canonical: https://time.com/4825959/john-mccain-healthcare-bill-mitch-mcconnell/ author: Alana Abramson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-06-20T22:00:15.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:54:14.464Z article:section: Politics og:title: John McCain Jokes That Russians Have Been Able to Hack the Health Care Bill og:description: "I’m sure the Russians have been able to hack in and gotten most of it," og:url: https://time.com/4825959/john-mccain-healthcare-bill-mitch-mcconnell/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt82555ecf8414be1c/6988cdf3ab6d77c5926ae2bc/john-mccain-joe-lieberman-donald-trump-fbi-director.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 594 og:image:height: 334 og:image:alt: John-McCain-Joe-Lieberman-Donald-Trump-FBI-Director og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: John McCain Jokes That Russians Have Been Able to Hack the Health Care Bill twitter:description: "I’m sure the Russians have been able to hack in and gotten most of it," twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt82555ecf8414be1c/6988cdf3ab6d77c5926ae2bc/john-mccain-joe-lieberman-donald-trump-fbi-director.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # John McCain Jokes That the Russians Have Been Able to Hack the Senate Health Care Bill > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: Republican Health Care Bill Would Lead to 23 Million Fewer Americans With Insurance [Watch (HLS stream): Republican Health Care Bill Would Lead to 23 Million Fewer Americans With Insurance](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/jEVh4WPC.m3u8) (1:39)  _Published 2017-05-24. The Republican bill to repeal Obamacare would result in 23 million fewer people having health insurance by the year 2026, according to a long-awaited and nonpartisan forecast, upending the healthcare system and scrambling insurance markets._  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Jun 20, 2017 10:00 PM UTC  Senator John McCain at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Feb. 15, 2017 in Washington, D.C. Senator John McCain at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Feb. 15, 2017 in Washington, D.C. Paul Morigi—Getty Images  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Jun 20, 2017 10:00 PM UTC [Senator John McCain ](http://time.com/4811311/john-mccain-james-comey-testimony/)says he hasn’t seen the Senate’s version of the American Health Care Act — but wouldn’t be surprised if the Russians have. “I’m sure the Russians have been able to hack in and gotten most of it,” McCain said,[according to Bloomberg_._ ](https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2017-06-20/senate-republicans-haven-t-seen-their-secret-health-bill-either)He also noted that he hasn’t met “any American” who has seen the bill. The Senate version of the American Health Care Act, which [passed in the House of Representatives](http://time.com/money/4766063/ahca-new-republican-health-care-bill/) last month, is [set to be released shortly,](http://time.com/4824218/senate-gop-republican-democrats-congress-healthcare-ahca-obamacare/?iid=sr-link3) so the Senate can vote on it before the July 4th recess. But the process has gone on behind closed doors, and, according to Bloomberg, will not go through committee hearings. Multiple Senators, even from the [Republican Party,](http://time.com/4713720/john-oliver-on-republicans/) said they have yet to see the bill. “I haven’t seen it \[the bill\] yet either, even though I’ve been a member of this working groups amongst Senate Republicans assigned to help narrow some of the focus of this,” Utah Senator Mike Lee said in a video on his [Facebook page](https://www.facebook.com/senatormikelee/videos/1534056576626030/). “If you’re frustrated by the lack of transparency in this process,” Lee continued, “I share your frustration.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4825959/john-mccain-healthcare-bill-mitch-mcconnell/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4825959/john-mccain-healthcare-bill-mitch-mcconnell/"},"headline":"John McCain Jokes That the Russians Have Been Able to Hack the Senate Health Care Bill","datePublished":"2017-06-20T22:00:15.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:54:14.464Z","description":"\"I’m sure the Russians have been able to hack in and gotten most of it\"","url":"https://time.com/4825959/john-mccain-healthcare-bill-mitch-mcconnell/","keywords":["Senate","Congress","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt82555ecf8414be1c/6988cdf3ab6d77c5926ae2bc/john-mccain-joe-lieberman-donald-trump-fbi-director.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alana Abramson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt82555ecf8414be1c/6988cdf3ab6d77c5926ae2bc/john-mccain-joe-lieberman-donald-trump-fbi-director.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"John-McCain-Joe-Lieberman-Donald-Trump-FBI-Director","caption":"Senator John McCain at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Feb. 15, 2017 in Washington, D.C.","creditText":"Paul Morigi—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/senate/","name":"Senate"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4825959/john-mccain-healthcare-bill-mitch-mcconnell/","name":"John McCain Jokes That the Russians Have Been Able to Hack the Senate Health Care Bill"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Republican Health Care Bill Would Lead to 23 Million Fewer Americans With Insurance","description":"The Republican bill to repeal Obamacare would result in 23 million fewer people having health insurance by the year 2026, according to a long-awaited and nonpartisan forecast, upending the healthcare system and scrambling insurance markets.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/jEVh4WPC/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2017-05-24T23:05:27.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/jEVh4WPC.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4825959/john-mccain-healthcare-bill-mitch-mcconnell/","duration":"PT1M39S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4825959/john-mccain-healthcare-bill-mitch-mcconnell/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```