WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), a member of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, on Tuesday voted against the nomination of Chad Readler to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. Readler was a lead lawyer behind the Trump administration’s decision to support the lawsuit to repeal the Affordable Care Act and eliminate protections for the 130 million Americans with pre-existing conditions. Earlier today, Murphy joined U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Senate Democratic Leader, Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Readler’s home-state senator who did not return the blue slip for his nomination, and Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), a member of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, at a press conference and delivered remarks on the floor of the U.S. Senate to discuss what it would mean for health care in America if Readler is confirmed. 

“Republicans have used every lever at their disposal to try to strip away protections for people with pre-existing conditions. They spent an entire year trying to pass a piece of legislation that would take those protections away. They have spent the last two years stacking the Supreme Court with justices who will eventually overturn the Affordable Care Act. And now, they are sending a very clear signal to everyone inside the administration that if you stand up and lead on the issue of taking away protections for people with pre-existing conditions, you will be rewarded,” said Murphy. 

“Readler’s filing in the pre-existing conditions lawsuit would have resulted in a humanitarian catastrophe in this country, just to make a political point. It would have led to 20 million people who receive insurance coverage through the Affordable Care Act losing it overnight and 133 million Americans with pre-existing conditions having their rates jacked up overnight. This is just another brick in the wall. Republicans have made it very clear that they are going to stop at nothing in order to try to take these protections away simply because the protections have President Obama’s name on it,” Murphy added. 

Video of Murphy from the press conference can be viewed here.

Video of Murphy speaking on the Senate floor opposing Readler’s nomination can be viewed here.