WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), a member of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, on Tuesday criticized Congressional Republicans’ American Health Care Act, which would cut hundreds of billions of dollars from Medicaid and middle-class tax credits to pay for massive tax breaks for the wealthy and special interests. Click here to view a video of Murphy’s remarks.

“This bill is a moral abomination. This is, first and foremost, a giant gift to insurance companies and drug companies, to millionaires and billionaires. If you make under $200,000, you get almost nothing out of this bill. You get virtually no tax relief, you get higher premiums, you get less benefits, and you might get kicked off your insurance,” said Murphy. “If you are super wealthy, you’ll get anywhere from $10,000 to $200,000 back on your taxes. We’re going to hold [Republicans] accountable for the entirety of this disaster: the premium increases, the insurance cuts, and the giant, big, wet kiss that they are giving to the Republican donor class through these massive, massive tax cuts.”

The full text of Murphy’s remarks is below:

One way to look at the House health care bill is a giant tax cut for the wealthy and health care corporations wrapped by health care rhetoric. This is, first and foremost, a giant gift to insurance companies and drug companies, to millionaires and billionaires. And that’s been the priority of Republicans since day one.

With the exception of drug company CEOs, nobody in this country is asking for a $28 billion tax cut for drug companies. With the exception of health insurance CEOs, nobody in this country is asking for a $145 billion cut for health insurers. And with the exception of a few Republican donors, no one in this country is asking for the top .1 percent of American income-earners to get a $200,000 tax cut.

One of the reasons that this bill is so wildly unpopular is because Americans understand that, at the foundation, this bill is all about a tax cut to companies and individuals that don’t need it. If you make under $200,000, you get almost nothing out of this bill. You get virtually no tax relief, you get higher premiums, you get less benefits, and you might get kicked off your insurance.

If you are super wealthy, the health care provisions in this bill won’t affect you because you can afford the premium increases, and you’ll get anywhere from $10,000 to $200,000 back on your taxes.

This bill is a moral abomination. First and foremost because of the humanitarian catastrophe that will result from 23 million people losing their health insurance, but also because there’s no justification for passing along that size of a tax cut to people that don’t need it. And as Senator Wyden said, having as the consequence, the Medicare Trust Fund go bankrupt two to three years earlier.

Now, as the House adjusted their bill to try to win votes, nobody talked about touching the portion of the bill that passes on these massive tax cuts to industry and to millionaires and billionaires. And I’m sure that these secret meeting that Republicans are having in the Senate doesn’t involve a discussion about dramatically curtailing these tax cuts because to Republicans, this is the foundation of their proposal.

The health care bill is seen by Republicans as an excuse to pass along a big tax cut to their donors, and we’re going to hold them accountable for the entirety of this disaster: the premium increases, the insurance cuts, and the giant, big, wet kiss that they are giving to the Republican donor class through these massive, massive tax cuts.

###