John McCain on Trumpcare: I haven't seen it, but I'm sure the Russians have

'I’m sure the Russians have been able to hack in and gotten most of it,' the Senator says

Senator John McCain listens as Attorney General Jeff Sessions testifies on the Russia probe in Washington, DC

Republican Senator John McCain hasn’t seen his party’s health care bill, slated for a vote next week – but thinks he knows who has.

Asked by Bloomberg if he had seen the Senate version of the bill, Mr McCain responded, "No, nor have I met any American that has.”

He added: “I’m sure the Russians have been able to hack in and gotten most of it."

The comments reflect a growing frustration on Capitol Hill with the secrecy around the American Health Care Act – not to mention the seemingly endless stream of scandals stemming from the White House.

Many Republicans campaigned on the promise of repealing and replacing Obamacare, but are now faced with a largely unpopular bill from the House, and an as-yet unrevealed bill from the Senate.

“I cannot say what I would vote for if I haven’t seen it,” Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski told reporters. “That’s where a real problem is, because nobody — I shouldn’t say that. This person has not seen anything.”

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he plans to release a "discussion draft" of the bill on Thursday, and move it to a Senate vote next week. He is rumoured to be writing it with a combination of aides and members of select Senate committees – but no one is exactly who is involved.

"I assume Senator McConnell and his staff are, with input from his working group, but I really don't know," Senator Susan Collins said. Senator Rand Paul also admitted he’s "not exactly” sure who’s drafting the bill.

Even Senator Mike Lee, a member of the 13-member, all-male Senate working group on health care reform, said he has not seen the bill.

"Even though we thought we were going to be in charge of writing a bill within this working group, it’s not being written by us," Mr Lee said in a video posted to Facebook.

"If you’re frustrated by the lack of transparency in this process, I share your frustration,” he added. “I share it wholeheartedly.”

Senators Pat Toomey and Orrin Hatch, also rumoured to be members of the working group, told reporters they, too had not seen the bill.

Republicans are attempting to pass the bill through an expedited process called "reconciliation," which would allow them to pass it with 51 votes, instead of 60. That process also requires approval from the Congressional Budget Office, which reportedly received a draft of the bill just yesterday.

The situation is prime for ridicule from Democrats, who Republicans previously accused of “rushing” Obamacare through Congress. Democrats in the House have already leapt on several of their Republican colleagues for admitting they didn’t fully read the bill before the 4 May vote.

"We used to complain like hell when the Democrats ran the Affordable Care Act, now we're doing the same thing," Mr McCain said.

Republicans also complain that the bill has been hampered by the constant buzz coming from the White House – particularly, as Mr McCain alluded to, from the investigations into potential Russian collusion by the Trump campaign.

“I think we could do with a little less drama from the White House on a lot of things so that we can focus on our agenda,” Mr McConnell said recently, “which is deregulations, tax reform and repealing and replacing Obamacare.”