McConnell defends all-male health overhaul group
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., (center), flanked by Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., (left), and Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn of Texas, speaks to members of the media about healthcare, Tuesday, May 9, 2017, on Capitol Hill in Washington following a policy luncheon. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP Photo)
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is defending a health care working group in the Senate that has no female members. And he has no plans to add any.
The Kentucky Republican disputed the importance of the 13-member working group comprised entirely of white men. Instead McConnell said Tuesday that the real work of writing health care legislation is being done by the entire Republican caucus at their regular lunch meetings.
He says the working group that counts “is all 52 of us.” He says “nobody is being excluded based on gender.”
The working group is one of several in the Senate on health care but includes McConnell himself as well as leaders on the issue, and Democrats have been attacking the lack of diversity. There are five Republican women in the Senate.
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