Democrats Focus On Threat To Health Care As Senate Republicans Rush To Jam Through A Supreme Court Nominee That Would Strike Down The ACA

Washington, D.C. – The stakes couldn’t be higher: As promised, President Trump nominated a Supreme Court Justice who will “terminate” the Affordable Care Act, risking protections for millions living with pre-existing conditions, coverage for millions of Americans, and raise drug prices for seniors on Medicare. Not only are the consequences dire, the entire process is illegitimate and dangerous.  In addition to breaking their promise not to consider nominees in an election year, Senate Republicans are insisting on holding hearings in the middle of a pandemic while refusing to get tested for COVID-19 despite recent exposure to people – including Senators on the committee itself – who tested positive. 61% of Americans oppose the Supreme Court terminating the healthcare law. 

Bloomberg: Democrats Use Supreme Court Fight to Elevate Health Care in Campaign. “Senate Democrats are prepared to lose the fight over Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination to the Supreme Court, but her confirmation hearings give them a platform to highlight a timely issue just before the election: health care. More than almost any other issue, Democrats say the fate of the Affordable Care Act in the middle of a pandemic will drive home the stakes of GOP control of the White House and Senate. If Republican plans for Barrett’s confirmation hold, she would be on the court when it hears arguments just one week after the Nov. 3 election in a case that could undo the law, which provides health insurance for 20 million Americans and other benefits -- like parents being allowed to keep children on their plan until they turn 26 -- for millions more.”

New York Times: Spotlighting Health Care, Democrats Seek to Use Court Fight to Damage Republicans. “Senate Democrats have begun a concerted push to make the fight over Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation to the Supreme Court a referendum on the Affordable Care Act, working to turn a short-term victory for President Trump and Republicans into a liability that could cost them control of the Senate.”

Washington Post: Democrats Focus Supreme Court Battle On Fate Of Health-Care Law Under Trump. “As a Senate fight over Trump’s third and most consequential Supreme Court pick looms, Democrats on Sunday focused on the role Trump’s nominee could play in overturning President Barack Obama’s signature health-care law amid a pandemic.”

CBS News: Democrats Put Obamacare Center Stage In Supreme Court Confirmation Battle. “The future of Obamacare, the health care law implemented by President Barack Obama, has emerged as the key focus of Democrats as they work to shape Barrett's nomination and elevate the stakes for the public in hopes of pressuring the GOP not to move forward with the confirmation process.”

CNN: Democrats say Barrett's nomination is all about the future of Obamacare. “In a rush of statements following Barrett's Rose Garden introduction, top Democrats put the fate of the law -- and its popular protections for patients with pre-existing conditions -- front and center. They also made frequent reference to the coronavirus pandemic, and the chaos that could arise from stripping health insurance options from millions of Americans in its midst.”

NBC News: Senate Democrats Promise 'Major Focus' On Obamacare In Supreme Court Fight. “Trump, who is supporting the Texas-led lawsuit to invalidate the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, has repeatedly indicated that he would nominate judges who would rule against it.”

Fox News: Obamacare Takes Center Stage As Supreme Court Fight Heats Up, Democrats Ramp Up Tactics To Squeeze Republicans. “Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on Tuesday continued his aggressive use of procedural tactics to squeeze vulnerable Republicans as the fight over the Supreme Court nomination of Amy Coney Barrett gets underway, this time setting up a Thursday procedural vote on a bill to bar the Department of Justice (DOJ) from arguing against the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in the Supreme Court next month.”

Vanity Fair: “We’re Watching Them Shoot Themselves In The Foot”: Trump’s Covid Circus Is Supercharging Democrats’ Scotus Strategy. “Senate Democrats have been preparing for this moment since May. That month the Supreme Court announced that the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had undergone treatment at Johns Hopkins for a gallbladder condition. She recovered, but the scare threw into focus how vulnerable Democrats would be if Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell aimed to fast-track a conservative SCOTUS nominee through the confirmation process. At the time Chuck Schumer’s office took inventory of the tactics Democrats might use to stop them. There wasn’t much. So he settled on the most viable strategy: emphasize the danger of said nominee potentially repealing the Affordable Care Act.”

Politico: Schumer To Democrats: Focus On Health Care To Beat Barrett. “Chuck Schumer has some simple advice for how to take down Amy Coney Barrett: Talk about ‘health care, health care, health care.’ In a letter to his colleagues late Saturday, the Senate minority leader laid out how Senate Democrats will try to build opposition to Barrett’s nomination to the Supreme Court. The New Yorker said that if Barrett is confirmed, it spells the end of Obamacare, which is slated to come before the Supreme Court after Election Day. ‘All the data show that with COVID raging, the number one priority for the American people is health care — its affordability, accessibility and quality,’ Schumer wrote in the Dear Colleague note to other Democratic senators, obtained by POLITICO. ‘We must focus like a laser on health care because Judge Barrett’s record is so clear on this issue.’”

CNBC: Democrats Seek To Turn Supreme Court Fight Into Referendum On Obamacare. “In a slew of statements released after Barrett’s confirmation became official, Biden and his fellow Democrats made it clear that, with just under 40 days left to go before Election Day, they wanted the fight to be about health care. Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., the minority leader, said Americans should ‘make no mistake: A vote by any Senator for Judge Amy Coney Barrett is a vote to strike down the Affordable Care Act and eliminate protections for millions of Americans with pre-existing conditions.’”

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