WASHINGTON – After the U.S. Department of Justice announced it would no longer defend the Affordable Care Act in court and argued that the courts should strike down the entire law, U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), a member of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, on Tuesday joined U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Democratic Leader in the Senate; U.S. Senator Patty Murray D-Wash.), Ranking Member of the HELP Committee; and U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee, in condemning the latest Republican efforts to sabotage the health care system. If the Trump administration is successful, it would result in the loss of health care protections for the over 130 million people living with pre-existing conditions, and millions more who enrolled in Medicaid expansion. The resolution was led by U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), and cosponsored by all 47 Democrats in the U.S. Senate, including U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.).

“Republicans in Congress can’t distance themselves rhetorically from the president when they have the chance to sign onto legislation that will stop this assault on the ACA from happening. I hope there are at least one or two or three brave souls in the Republican Party who is willing to try to save this country from the catastrophe that would be the end of the Affordable Care Act with no replacement, and we will be hard at work trying to convince them to do so, trying to save this country from policy peril and trying to save our Republican friends from political peril, to join us in this effort,” said Murphy.

The full text of Murphy’s remarks is below:

How gullible do Republicans think the American public is? They have never had a plan to replace the Affordable Care Act, they don’t have a plan to replace to replace the Affordable Care Act, they are never, ever, ever going to have a plan to replace the Affordable Care Act. Why? Because Republicans are perfectly happy allowing insurance companies to be in charge of your health care, they are perfectly happy to allow insurance companies to make billions of dollars off of your health care. This has been the truth from the beginning and it is the truth today. If you end the Affordable Care Act with no replacement, it is a humanitarian catastrophe for this country. 20 million people losing insurance overnight. Rates skyrocketing to the point of total unaffordability. Republicans in Congress can’t distance themselves rhetorically from the president when they have the chance to sign onto legislation that will stop this assault on the ACA from happening. I hope there is at least one or two or three brave souls in the Republican Party who is willing to try to save this country from the catastrophe that would be the end of the Affordable Care Act with no replacement, and we will be hard at work trying to convince them to do so, trying to save this country from policy peril and trying to save our Republican friends from political peril, to join us in this effort.

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