If a Reporter Has to Explain a Bill to You, Maybe You Shouldn't Have Voted For It

Perhaps it's best to hide the fact that you didn't fully read the healthcare bill projected to leave nearly 26 million Americans uninsured before you voted for it — or perhaps your intention is to be unseated. Either way, House Representative Chris Collins of New York proved he is ill-equipped to represent the people of his district not once, but twice, this week.

Just before the American Health Care Act went to vote on April 4, Collins confessed on CNN that he had not read this proposal in its entirety. "We have to rely on our staff. I had many meetings within Energy and Commerce, with the chairmen of Energy and Commerce, as we discussed how this plan will affect Americans," Collins told Wolf Blitzer. "I'm very comfortable that we've got a solution to the disaster called Obamacare."

As if the admission that he didn't read the bill or its amendments wasn't bad enough, Collins doubled down on his ignorance when pressed by a reporter from The Buffalo News. After the journalist told Collins that the American Health Care Act would suspend the $3 billion New York state receives for Medicaid, the congressman suggested he did not know its repercussions.

"Explain that to me," Collins asked the reporter, who then explained that 19,000 citizens of his district receive health care under the Essential Health Plan. Collins then admitted he was unaware that the proposed bill would end the program. "But it doesn't surprise me for you to tell me that there were two states in the nation that were taking advantage of some other waiver program and New York was one of the two states," Collins added.

Collins spokesperson Micheal McAdams released a statement claiming that admission was once again "twisting a Republican's words to fit its out-of-touch liberal narrative." Let's not mince words: there's really nothing to twist in Collins's continued confession that he's not exactly doing his job, and his constituents will certainly take notice.