In all the news articles triggered by the House passing the Republican "American Health Care Act" (A.H.C.A.), one quote prominently stood out. From an article written by David Weigel in the Washington Post came this extraordinary quote:

"Congress and the White House have focused their public efforts on platitudes and news conferences, while the substance and the details have remained behind closed doors," Rep. Paul D. Ryan (Wis.), then the ranking Republican on the House Budget Committee, wrote in a July 2009 op-ed for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "Those members of Congress who voted for this bill already in their committees did so without knowing what the legislation costs."

Back then, Democrats were in the early part of the process of passing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare"), and Republicans were in a snit because they thought the process was moving too fast.

The article also pointed out some more steaming piles of Republican hypocrisy:

To Democrats' surprise, Republicans hammered process issues through the election, promising to never again legislate like the Democrats had.

"We will ensure that bills are debated and discussed in the public square by publishing the text online for at least three days before coming up for a vote in the House of Representatives," they wrote in their Pledge to America, a pre-election manifesto. "No more hiding legislative language from the minority party, opponents, and the public."

That pledge was no longer functional during the A.H.C.A. debate. The final language put up for a vote Thursday had been inked less than 16 hours beforehand.

Got that? Sixteen hours. In fact, they were making one of their own myths come true, as the article also helpfully pointed out:

Many Republicans also resurrected a favorite quote from the A.C.A. fight -- [then-Speaker Nancy] Pelosi, in a March 2010 speech to county legislators, ran through the benefits of the legislation and insisted that "we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it." At the time, the bill's text had been public for weeks, along with a C.B.O. score. That did not dispel the legend.

But back to that Ryan quote. I was interested to read what else Ryan had to say back in July of 2009, so I went looking online for his op-ed. I failed to find a free copy of it, however, as the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel apparently is trying to cash in on its archives (I found one site that wanted to charge me three bucks just to run a single article search, which I refuse to do on general principles). I couldn't even find the article in the pay site (Lexis/Nexis) that I do have access to. But I did find many other similar things Ryan was saying back then.

So let's do a deep dive into Ryan's rancid hypocrisy on his whole "Boo hoo, the process is going too fast" complaint, shall we? [Apologies for the lack of links, these are all from behind the Lexis/Nexis paywall.]

July 21, 2009

Transcript of the Newshour With Jim Lehrer, on PBS. Judy Woodruff interviews four members of Congress, among them Paul Ryan. [Note: the date of the interview may be a day or so earlier, this date is when the transcript was released, I believe]

[MS. WOODRUFF]: All right, Representative Ryan, Republican in the House....

[REP. RYAN]: The problem we have here is the bill that's being rushed to the floor next week; the House leadership is saying next week we will vote on this bill, no one's read this bill.

This bill, according to the Congressional Budget Office, has a huge deficit attached to it. This bill, according to the Congressional Budget Office, will create a new unfunded entitlement that will rival the size and likes of the liabilities with Medicare and Medicaid.

. . .

There is a way to get to bipartisan health care reform, but the bill they're trying to jam through Congress next week... is not the way to go.

More importantly, this is too important to rush this thing through Congress. This is 17 percent of our economy. Let's sit down and do it right. And if they want to make it bipartisan, then you have to have collaboration with the minority, and they're not doing anything like that in the House.

. . .

[REP. RYAN]: Rather than spending next week voting on a bill no one has read in Congress..., I think we should talk to our constituents during the August recess.

I'm holding town hall meetings on health care. We all should be doing that so we can talk to our constituents, get the public to see what this legislation is all about, and then come back in September well informed after having touched base with each of our employers -- the constituents we represent.

Got all of that? The text of the bill has been available for long enough for the C.B.O. to score the bill, but "no one's read this bill." Well, that's really on the members of Congress, since they obviously had had enough time to do so. Also, Ryan admits that the bill won't come up until "next week," meaning he could've spend that weekend reading the bill, if he had chosen to do so.

He also calls for making the bill bipartisan, with a "collaboration with the minority," which is pretty laughable after what we've witnessed him doing in the House over the past month or two.

Two days later, Ryan even tried a political stunt to delay things until after the August congressional recess:

July 23, 2009

Joint press release from Republican Congressmen Tom Price, Paul Ryan, and Kevin Brady, calling to "delay a vote on the Democrat health care plan and declare August America's Right to Know Month."

We all want to fix what's broken in health care, but we need to get it right, said Ranking Member Ryan. Let's get input from our employers -- the constituents we represent -- before we're forced to vote on a thousand-page, trillion-dollar bill.... After hearing from those we serve next month, we can come back with a renewed commitment to advance patient-centered, fiscally-responsible health care reform.

Even after the bill's text was made public, even after the C.B.O. scored it, Ryan wanted a full month to discuss it with his constituents. How times have changed, eh?

The same day, Ryan had an article published in the American Spectator.

July 23, 2009

From The American Spectator, by Paul Ryan.

America is now being pushed headlong into enacting a massive federal government-run health care program. The rush, of course, is the Congressional Democrats' chosen strategy prompted by the Obama Administration's hunger for a big victory. This strategy may be politically expedient, but it is extremely irresponsible, unwise, and unfair to the American people.... This untested experiment with our national health demands no less than responsible public debate and prudent political judgment. Right now America is getting neither.

Rather ironic now, all that whining about the White House's "hunger for a big victory." Back then doing things quickly was deemed "extremely irresponsible, unwise, and unfair to the American people." Now, such haste deserves a keg-party celebration afterwards, of course.

Almost a week later, Ryan appeared on MSNBC (which also contains the only remaining piece of that Milwaukee Journal Sentinel op-ed in Lexis-Nexis).

July 29, 2009

Transcript from MSNBC interview with Paul Ryan.

[CARLOS WATSON, MSNBC]: You wrote recently in an op-ed in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: "Before members even had time to read the 1,000-page bill, it already has cleared two major House committees and is set to be fast-tracked through Congress in the days and weeks ahead. Those members of Congress who voted for this bill already in their committees did so without knowing what the legislation costs. Before it's too late, let's take a closer look."

Is this a genuine complaint?

[CONGRESSMAN PAUL RYAN]: I don't think we should pass bills that we haven't read and don't know what they cost. I don't think that is being effusive [sic]. I have already proposed legislation, and a number of Republicans are proposing alternatives. You can look at The Patients' Choice Act or go to my Facebook page and you'll see that there are many proposals that we have put out there.

We want to see health care reform done, but we want to do it right. If you rush this thing through before anyone even knows what it is, that's not good democracy. That's not doing our work for our constituents. What's wrong with going home for August having town hall meetings, listening to our constituents, and then coming back in September and doing this right?

Of course, that was then. This is now, where Paul Ryan's House just did precisely what he decried back then, in stunning fashion. Oh, and to be fair, I think Ryan meant "effective" (or possibly something else entirely), since "effusive" is defined as: "expressing feelings of gratitude, pleasure, or approval in an unrestrained or heartfelt manner."

Misstatements aside, though, let's go through a quick review of just one month of hypocrisy from Paul Ryan, back in 2009, compared to what happened this week:

• "The substance and the details have remained behind closed doors."
  [The Republican bill was available -- not just to the public but also to members of Congress themselves -- for less than 16 hours.]
• "Those members of Congress who voted for this bill already in their committees did so without knowing what the legislation costs."
  [No committee votes were even held, as the bill was rushed to the floor. The C.B.O. was not given a chance to score this draft of the A.H.C.A. at all, so nobody knows what the costs are.]
• "We will ensure that bills are debated and discussed in the public square by publishing the text online for at least three days before coming up for a vote in the House of Representatives. No more hiding legislative language from the minority party, opponents, and the public."
  [See 16 hours note, above.]
• "There is a way to get to bipartisan health care reform, but the bill they're trying to jam through Congress next week, which we believe quantitatively and demonstrably involves a government takeover of health care, is not the way to go. More importantly, this is too important to rush this thing through Congress. This is 17 percent of our economy. Let's sit down and do it right. And if they want to make it bipartisan, then you have to have collaboration with the minority, and they're not doing anything like that in the House."
  [No Democratic input was ever asked for by Ryan on the A.H.C.A. No collaboration with the minority was even attempted. As for "jam through" or "rush this thing through," see 16 hours comment, above.]
• "I'm holding town hall meetings on health care. We all should be doing that so we can talk to our constituents, get the public to see what this legislation is all about, and then come back in September well informed after having touched base with each of our employers -- the constituents we represent."
  [The House is taking next week off, when town hall meetings could have taken place. The vote was rushed through before anyone could "touch base" with their constituents. Ryan didn't schedule "America's Right To Know Month," and he didn't even allow an "America's Right To Know Week."]
• "The rush, of course, is the Congressional Democrats' chosen strategy prompted by the Obama Administration's hunger for a big victory. This strategy may be politically expedient, but it is extremely irresponsible, unwise, and unfair to the American people."
  [Just change "Democrats" to "Republicans" and "Obama" to "Trump," and this statement could be said by any Democrat today. What's more, while it wasn't correct back then (it took almost another year for Obamacare to actually pass), it would indeed be correct now.]
• "I don't think we should pass bills that we haven't read and don't know what they cost. I don't think that is being effusive [sic].... We want to see health care reform done, but we want to do it right. If you rush this thing through before anyone even knows what it is, that's not good democracy. That's not doing our work for our constituents. What's wrong with going home for August having town hall meetings, listening to our constituents, and then coming back in September and doing this right?"
  [Now, of course, Ryan has completely changed his tune. Now, "bills that we haven't read and don't know what they cost" are worth celebrating.]

As it turns out, while David Weigel's research team dug up an op-ed from Paul Ryan, there are indeed multiple examples of him making the same complaint, in various different formats. Back then, unseemly haste was "not good democracy," according to Paul Ryan. Now, it's nothing short of sheer hypocrisy.

Can't wait to hear what all those constituents have to say about all of this at next week's town hall meetings. If any Republicans are actually brave enough to hold any of them, that is.

-- Chris Weigant

Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant