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Fiorina: Americans Need to Be Told What's in Health Care Bill

Former Republican presidential hopeful Carly Fiorina says lawmakers need to let the American people know what's in the Republican health care legislation.
Image: GOP Presidential Candidates Ben Carson And Carly Fiorina Attend BBQ In Iowa
WILTON, IA - NOVEMBER 22: Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina speaks to guests at a barbeque hosted by Jeff Kauffman, chairman of the Republican party of Iowa, on November 22, 2015 in Wilton, Iowa. The event, which drew about 300 guests, was also attended by rival candidate Ben Carson. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)Scott Olson / Getty Images

Former Republican presidential hopeful Carly Fiorina says lawmakers need to let the American people know what's in the Republican health care legislation.

Fiorina agreed with NBC News' Kate Snow, who noted in an interview with the former candidate that some Republicans had not read the GOP health care bill before it was passed last week.

“Yeah, and they made the same mistake that Democrats did — remember [Rep. Nancy] Pelosi saying you have to pass the bill so we know what's in it?” Fiorina told Snow.

“The American people need to know what's in this bill, just as they should have known what was in the Obamacare bill,” she added.

Fiorina was referring to Pelosi's 2010 comments about the Affordable Care Act when she said, “We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of the controversy.” Pelosi came under fire from conservatives, but she has defended her remarks at the time, saying she meant that when people found out what was in the ACA, they would like it.

The former Hewlett-Packard CEO told NBC News that it would have been “preferable” for House Republicans to wait for the Congressional Budget Office to analyze the cost and provisions of the legislation before it was voted on. But, she added, "On the other hand, momentum matters in something like this.”

Fiorina expressed confidence any flaws in the House bill will be fixed in the Senate.

“[Senate Majority Leader] Mitch McConnell has made it pretty clear that this is only the first step," Fiorina told Snow in the interview. "But what I would advise is that Republicans in the House and in the Senate take the time to talk with the American people about what's in this bill and what it will mean for them.”

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Fiorina ended her 2016 presidential run after garnering just four percent of the vote in the New Hampshire GOP primary. She later re-emerged as Ted Cruz’s runningmate in a last-ditch effort to derail then-candidate Donald Trump’s surging campaign.

Fiorina, who has moved to Virginia, told NBC New she is considering making a return to politics by running for Senate against Virginia Democrat and 2016 vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine.

“One of the things that I'm weighing is whether or not his seat is winnable given given all the various opportunities in 2018,” she said. “Running as the runningmate for Hillary Clinton put him at odds with commitments that he made to the people of Virginia when he was running as their senator. And so it won't be a slam dunk for him either.”

Fiorina also discussed the recent work she has been doing on "microfinance" to help women entrepreneurs around the world.

"It began really with the initiative I launched in conjunction with the State Department and Condoleezza Rice called the 'One Woman Initiative,'" she told NBC News. "We were focused on helping grassroots women's organizations around the world lift women up. Provide them training in entrepreneurship, access to leadership training, access to justice, which women lack in so many parts of the world.

"Economies grow faster if women are engaged and yet it's also true that women don't always have the opportunity and the support and the tools," Fiorina added. "Microfinance is one such tool to lift women out of poverty. Microfinance, of course, is giving very small amounts of money to very poor people ... And in my work with Opportunity International, one of the largest private microfinance organizations in the world, we lent $8 billion — $100 dollars at a time lifted millions of people out of poverty."