One Democrat's Hunt For The Hidden Obamacare Replacement Bill 
 
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 U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, a Democrat from New Jersey, has been trying to get a look at the Republicans' bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. 
 
 He's the top-ranking Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which will have to approve the bill before the whole House can vote on it. 
 
 But as of Thursday afternoon, Pallone still couldn't get his hands on a copy. 
 
 "We have no idea right now what they're considering," he said of his Republican colleagues. 
 
 Rep. Greg Walden, a Republican from Oregon and the Energy and Commerce Committee's chairman, made draft legislation available to Republicans on the panel Thursday, but they had to read it in a private room and weren't allowed to make copies. 
 
 When the location of that room leaked on Twitter late Thursday morning, reporters filled the hallway outside the room's door on the first floor of the U.S. Capitol. Pallone, along with his Democratic House colleagues Jan Schakowsky, from Illinois, and Joseph Crowley, from New York, also stopped by. 
 
 But when they went in, the room was empty. 
 
 "We were looking for the bill but there's no one there," Pallone said. 
 
 That room was just down the hall from House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy's office, so Pallone went in to ask McCarthy where he could see the legislation. McCarthy directed him to Walden's office. 
 
 Luckily, Walden had a Capitol "hideaway" office just down the hall. 
 
 Pallone led his colleagues, a string of reporters and even a couple of Capitol Police officers to the unmarked door, knocked and waited. 
 
 "It's locked," he said after trying the handle. "This is ridiculous." 
 
 He paused and looked at the crowd. "Do you want to go to Rayburn?" 
 
 He was referring to the Rayburn House Office Building, across Independence Avenue from the Capitol. It's where Walden's personal office and the Energy and Commerce Committee offices are. 
 
 Everybody wanted to go. 
 
 As we strolled the halls of the Capitol, down elevators and through the underground tunnel that leads to the House office buildings, Pallone reflected on why his Republican colleagues were keeping the legislation under lock and key. 
 
 "I think they're afraid,' he said. "I think they're afraid that it will show that it really doesn't cover most of the people that receive coverage under the Affordable Care Act." 
 
 Even many Republicans weren't invited to view the latest draft; Sen. Rand Paul from Kentucky condemned the GOP leadership Thursday for not making it more widely available. 
 
 Last week, an earlier draft of the bill, dated Feb. 10, was leaked to Politico. Most analysts said that legislation would lead to millions of people losing coverage. And members of the House Freedom Caucus, considered the most conservative wing of the Republican Party, said they would oppose the bill because it includes refundable tax credits for people who are too poor to pay any federal income tax. 
 
 Pallone said he was pushing to get a copy of the most recent draft of the bill because he had heard Walden intends to have the committee vote on it next Wednesday — a timeline that wouldn't give the Democrats and the public much time to analyze the legislation. 
 
 He compared what the Republicans are doing this week with what the Democrats did with their draft of the Affordable Care Act several years ago; Democrats posted the text of the ACA online 30 days before it went to members for a vote. 
 
 "The reason why Republicans were able to comment on the ACA — and of course many of them commented negatively — was because the bill was out there," Pallone said. 
 
 At Walden's personal office in the Rayburn building, Andrew Malcolm, Walden's deputy chief of staff, told Pallone he would be better off directing questions about the bill to the Energy and Commerce Committee office. It was an awkward conversation as Pallone asked repeatedly whether Walden would be there, and Malcolm refused to answer. 
 
 "That's not helpful," Pallone said. "He's probably ducking us." Still, Pallone headed to that committee office, as Malcolm suggested. 
 
 And just as Pallone walked in, Walden came down the hall walking very quickly, trailed by some of his staff. He scowled at Pallone and the crowd of reporters in his lobby, then headed out a back hallway toward the hearing room next door. He didn't say a word. 
 
 "Well, obviously he doesn't want to talk," Pallone said. "I'm not going to keep chasing him. I'm tired of chasing him around. Obviously he doesn't want us to see the bill." ||||| A Republican bill to replace Obamacare is reportedly hidden somewhere on Capitol Hill — and on Thursday morning, legislators and reporters ended up on a bipartisan wild goose chase to find it. 
 
 Republicans have been hard at work drafting a plan to replace the Affordable Care Act. House Speaker Paul Ryan has repeatedly promised it is coming quite soon. Yesterday, multiple news outlets reported that some Republican legislators would have a first chance to look at the bill Thursday. 
 
 The briefings would be secretive. Members wouldn’t actually receive copies of the legislation. The copies would remain locked in an undisclosed room for members to look at — but not take home. 
 
 Democratic House members and Republican senators were not to be included in this process. But by Thursday morning, they decided to take the matter into their own hands. 
 
 The draft legislation was rumored to be in H-157, a nondescript meeting room in the House of Representatives. When legislators arrived, Capitol Police were guarding the entrance, and dozens of reporters were waiting outside for the much-anticipated legislation. 
 
 But the first Congress member to arrive — Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), who appeared to have a mobile printer in tow, perhaps to make copies of the bill — was promptly denied entry. 
 
 “We’re here asking for written copy of this because this should be an open and transparent process,” Paul said after being denied entry into Room H-157. “This is being presented as if it’s a national secret. As if it’s a plot to invade another country.” 
 
 The next legislator to attempt to get in was Rep. Paul Tonko, a Democrat from New York, who was also denied entry. 
 
 “Ranking member [Rep. Frank Pallone] knew about the number, I don’t know if it was shared officially, so we came over here to read the bill,” said Tonko, who serves on the Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee with Pallone. Tonko said he was told the bill was not in the room, but was not given any information on where it was. 
 
 Shortly after, Ways and Means Chair Kevin Brady exited room H-157 with the same news: no bill inside. He said he was there for a different meeting, with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who chairs the Republican Governors Association. “There’s no bill in there,” he said. When I asked him where the bill was, he said, “You’ll have to ask someone who has got the bill.” 
 
 Another strike. 
 
 Last to arrive to the treasure hunt were a group of Democratic legislators, including House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD). In a surprising turn of events, a staff member allowed Hoyer into the room. He wandered through the hallway, back to a larger room with green carpet. No people were in it. Nor were any bills. 
 
 “There were comments that it was in room 157,” Hoyer said. “I’ve looked in the Ways and Means Committee Room, I’ve looked in the Ways and Means conference room, I’ve looked here, I’ve asked [Brady] if he knew where it was. And we cannot find the bill.” 
 
 Hoyer exited room H-157 trailed by a gaggle of reporters. He proceeded to walk to a very large bust of Abraham Lincoln nearby. He began to speak to it. 
 
 "Mr. Lincoln, I can't find the bill,” Hoyer said. “Mr. Lincoln, you said public sentiment is everything. But if the public can't see the bill, they can't give us their sentiment. That's not regular order. That's not democracy. That's not good for our people. I know, Mr. Lincoln, you are as upset with your party as I am." 
 
 The crowd at room H-157 dispersed. But the search for the GOP replacement bill is still ongoing. 
 
 Watch: Obamacare in Trump country ||||| Senator Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican who has criticized the repeal bill, also tried and failed to see it. 
 
 “I have been told that the House Obamacare bill is under lock & key, in a secure location, & not available for me or the public to view,” Mr. Paul said on Twitter as he set off in search of the document, carrying a portable copy machine and trailed by television cameras and a pack of journalists. 
 
 Mr. Paul supports repealing the Affordable Care Act, but said the measure described publicly by House Republican leaders included “Democratic ideas dressed up in Republican clothing.” 
 
 Mr. Hoyer, whose quest for the bill was broadcast live on Facebook, paused to address a large bust of Abraham Lincoln. “I can’t find the bill,” he said, adding, “I know, Mr. Lincoln, you are as upset with your party as I am today.” 
 
 The theatrics reflected serious concerns. “Republicans are hiding their draft A.C.A. repeal bill in a basement room,” said the House Democratic leader, Nancy Pelosi of California. The bill, she said, would produce “a big transfer of wealth to the wealthiest people in our country,” cutting their taxes while increasing costs for others. 
 
 It is not unusual for controversial bills to be written by the majority party, with little or no input from the minority. But Democrats relished the opportunity to turn the tables on Republicans. 
 
 In 2009 and 2010, Republicans excoriated Democrats for making “back-room deals” to pass the Affordable Care Act. Democrats, defending the bill they had written with President Barack Obama, were shouted down at town hall-style meetings by Tea Party members chanting, “Read the bill.”
– As of Thursday, a new version of House Republicans' ObamaCare repeal and replace bill is available for review by members and staffers on the House Energy and Commerce panel, but they'll have to do a bit of work to see it: There's just one copy, kept in a dedicated reading room, and no other copies are being given to lawmakers to take with them, Bloomberg reports. The new draft "is being treated a bit like a top-secret surveillance intercept," the site notes, after an outdated draft was leaked last week and quickly derided—Republicans are looking to avoid the same thing happening again. But they might be doing too good a job, as lawmakers are struggling to locate the shrouded-in-secrecy draft: Rep. Frank Pallone, the top-ranking Democrat on the above-mentioned panel, has been on a quest to find the copy of the latest draft so he can read it. So far, he's had no luck, even when he went by the room it's supposed to be kept in. NPR follows his search. Sen. Rand Paul went on his own search for the bill Thursday, tweeting about his progress and bringing along a copy machine in case he found it. More on his quest, and a look at some of the Democrats poking fun at the "Where's the bill" fiasco, at the Washington Post. It didn't help that the rumored location of the secret bill got leaked, leading reporters to join in the hunt. A ton of people showed up at the room, but none of them located the bill. Vox has more. The House Energy and Commerce committee is tentatively scheduled to vote on the secretive bill next week, reports the New York Times, which has criticism from Democrats claiming Republicans are "playing hide-and-seek" with the bill.