WASHINGTON—On the day the U.S. Supreme Court held oral arguments in the California v. Texas lawsuit to dismantle the Affordable Care Act (ACA), U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), a member of the U.S. Senate Health Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, joined U.S. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, and HELP Committee colleagues U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-Pa.) and U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) to discuss the impact overturning the ACA will have on the over 130 million Americans with pre-existing health conditions.

On the spike in COVID-19 cases across the country, Murphy said: “Senate Republicans have let the country down as well. We need a robust comprehensive package of support that gets money to schools, that gets money to counties, to cities, to states, to health care providers, to make sure that they have everything they need in order to plan for more than one day at a time. And to this day, Senate Republicans still do not take this pandemic seriously. They still cower behind President Trump, afraid to admit that this is a worsening pandemic because they risk the ire of the President of the United States.”

Murphy reiterated that the Affordable Care Act is under threat from today’s court proceedings: “The ACA is still at risk, so long as Republican Attorneys General and the Trump administration are pursuing this case in court. And they will not give up. Republicans are not going to give up just because they lose a case or two in the court system. This is their holy grail, the dismantling of the ACA. We are in for a long, hard fight.”

Murphy also criticized Senate Republicans for slowing down the presidential transition amid a pandemic: “We will have the right people leading coronavirus response for the first time in a long time when Joe Biden assumes the White House, but as this transition does not get underway as Republicans continue to support the president's bogus claims of voter fraud, it risks the Biden administration not having the resources and the transition period that it needs in order to get an effective anti-coronavirus effort up and running on day one.”

A full transcript of Murphy’s remarks can be found below:

“First, I was at hospital in suburban New York, Stamford, Connecticut. And as I was on the way out, having met with their leadership, the head of the purchasing department followed me to the door, she wanted to have a private word with me. She said, ‘I didn't want to say this in front of everybody else. I didn't want to get anybody in trouble, but I have no idea how many test kits I'm getting from day to day. I have no ability to plan beyond 48 hours, to get events set up in the community to make sure that we're on the frontlines of this epidemic. I can't do my job.’ And she can't do her job because this administration has completely failed us. Has botched the response to this pandemic.

“And Senate Republicans have let the country down as well. We need a robust comprehensive package of support that gets money to schools, that gets money to counties, to cities, to states, to health care providers, to make sure that they have everything they need in order to plan for more than one day at a time. And to this day, Senate Republicans still do not take this pandemic seriously. They still cower behind President Trump, afraid to admit that this is a worsening pandemic because they risk the ire of the President of the United States.

“The second point, I know Justice Roberts said some things at the hearing today that gave people some hope that he may rule to keep the ACA in place, but he doesn't have to be on the prevailing side. There are five justices on that court, three appointed by the president, two that have ruled against the ACA in the past, to form a majority to strike down the entirety of the ACA. 

“The ACA is still at risk so long as Republican Attorneys General and the Trump administration are pursuing this case in court. And they will not give up. Republicans are not going to give up just because they lose a case or two in the court system. This is their holy grail, the dismantling of the ACA. We are in for a long, hard fight. And then finally, Senator Schumer referenced the support from Senate Republicans regarding these bogus lawsuits.

“Every day that this transition doesn't start, it’s harder for us to actually correct course in [January]. We will have the right people at HHS, we will have the right people at the CDC. We will have the right people leading coronavirus response for the first time in a long time when Joe Biden assumes the White House, but as this transition does not get underway as Republicans continue to support the president's bogus claims of voter fraud, it risks the Biden administration not having the resources and the transition period that it needs in order to get an effective anti-coronavirus effort up and running on day one. And so I would concur in Senator Schumer's remarks that it is time for this transition to begin.”

###