{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.murphy.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/republicans-are-ramming-through-judge-barretts-confirmation-vote-so-they-can-finally-destroy-peoples-health-care", "Republicans Are Ramming Through Judge Barretts Confirmation Vote So They Can Finally Destroy Peoples Health CareRead More", "2020-10-26", "2020", "2020-10", "Democrat", "House", "CT", "Christopher Murphy", "M001169", "www.murphy.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTONU.S.\r\nSenator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), a member of the U.S. Senate Health,\r\nEducation, Labor and Pensions Committee, along with Senators Richard Blumenthal\r\n(D-Conn.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Bob Casey\r\n(D-Pa.), and Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), and Protect Our Care's Chair Leslie Dach,\r\non Sunday highlighted what's at stake for health care and the Affordable\r\nCare Act (ACA) ahead of the final Senate vote for Judge Amy Coney Barrett's\r\nnomination to the Supreme Court. The\r\nSupreme Court is set to hear oral arguments inthe Republican lawsuit to\r\ngut the ACA on November 10th, and Senate Republicans are rushing\r\nthrough Judge Barrett's nomination so she can vote in their favor. On the press\r\ncall, Murphy discussed the catastrophic impact if the Republicans'\r\nlawsuit succeeds, stripping millions of Americans of their health coverage in\r\nthe middle of a global pandemic made worse by this administration's failure to\r\nprotect the American people. Stressing\r\nthe fact that Republicans are relying on the courts to overturn the ACA after\r\nthey failed to do so legislatively, Murphy said: It is hysterical to watch\r\nour Republican colleagues try to pretend that the confirmation of Amy Coney\r\nBarrett is about anything other than their decade-long attempt to repeal the\r\nAffordable Care Act. It's as if they think all of us have been asleep for 10\r\nyears. That we didn't watch while they tried to repeal all or part of the\r\nAffordable Care Act 70 different times. Like we were looking the other way when\r\nthey tried to repeal the entirety of the Affordable Care Act 31 different\r\ntimes. Murphy also\r\nlaid out how the Republicans' lawsuit to gut the ACAif successfulcould\r\nimpact Connecticut: There are going to be 23 million people in this country\r\nwho will likely lose their insurance in the middle of a pandemic that is on its\r\nway to killing 300,000 Americans. In Connecticut alonewe're a small state, we\r\nhave about three and a half million people260,000 people in our state rely on\r\nthe Affordable Care Act for coverage. There's no way that the state government\r\nor hospitals or health centers could pick up health insurance for a quarter of\r\na million people in our state. Murphy has\r\nbeen an outspoken\r\ncritic of the decision to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's seat on the\r\nSupreme Court before the next president is inaugurated, and has continuously\r\nemphasized the disastrous implications of confirming Judge Amy Coney Barrett.\r\nLast week, Murphy addressed\r\nRepublicans' decision to ram through Judge Amy Coney Barrett's confirmation to\r\nthe United States Supreme Court, and push their unpopular agenda on health\r\ncare, guns, and campaign finance through the courts after they've failed\r\nlegislatively. Murphy launched\r\na campaign to invite people across Connecticut to share their health care\r\nstories and describe how they would be impacted if the Republican lawsuit to\r\noverturn the Affordable Care Act succeeded. Murphy took\r\nto the U.S. Senate floor last month to discuss the health care implications of\r\nher nomination. Murphy has also held numerous roundtables across Connecticut\r\ndiscussing how Judge Barrett's confirmation would impact people's lives, and\r\nhas also been outspoken\r\non Judge Barrett's radical views around gun violence prevention. A full\r\ntranscript of Murphy's opening remarks can be found below: Well,\r\nthanks for convening us, Leslie, I think my colleagues have covered this very\r\nwell. So I'll be relatively brief. It is hysterical to watch our Republican\r\ncolleagues try to pretend that the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett is about\r\nanything other than their decade-long attempt to repeal the Affordable Care\r\nAct. It's as\r\nif they think all of us have been asleep for 10 years. That we didn't watch\r\nwhile they tried to repeal all or part of the Affordable Care Act 70 different\r\ntimes. Like we were looking the other way when they tried to repeal the\r\nentirety of the Affordable Care Act 31 different times. Like we didn't see that\r\nthe moment when they had finally, finally failed in the summer of 2017 in their\r\nlegislative repeal efforts that they snuck a provision into the 2017 tax bill\r\nthat made the Affordable Care Act, all of a sudden, vulnerable to attack. That\r\nwe didn't notice, when a few months later, the Republican establishment, led by\r\n20 Republican attorneys general, filed a lawsuit attacking the Affordable Care\r\n[Act], surprise, based on that change made in the 2017 tax law. And that we\r\nwere looking the other direction when Donald Trump broke with precedent and\r\ntold his Justice Department lawyers to join that lawsuit. And let's\r\njust be clear what this lawsuit that Amy Coney Barrett is being rushed on to\r\nthe court to hear asks. It doesn't ask, as Donald Trump would have you believe,\r\nonly part of the Affordable Care Act to be struck down. It doesn't leave the\r\nprotections in place for people with pre-existing conditions. No, it reads, 'Once\r\nthe individual mandate and guaranteed issue and community rating provisions are\r\ninvalidated, the remainder of the ACA should not be allowed to remain in\r\neffect.' That is what the Trump administration, the entire Republican\r\nestablishment is asking. In a court case that is pending as we speak, before\r\nthe Supreme Court that Amy Coney Barrett will be able to rule on because we are\r\nhere, a week before the election, getting ready for a rare Sunday night vote,\r\nbecause of the Republicans' 10-year desire to destroy people's health care. And let's\r\njust remember what this means. This is going to happen in the middle of a\r\npandemic. There are going to be 23 million people in this country who will\r\nlikely lose their insurance in the middle of a pandemic that is on its way to\r\nkilling 300,000 Americans. In Connecticut alone, we're a small state - we have\r\nabout three and a half million people260,000 people in our state rely on the\r\nAffordable Care Act for coverage. There's no way that the state government or\r\nhospitals or health centers could pick up health insurance for a quarter of a\r\nmillion people in our state. And on top of that, we have 70,000 people who have\r\nbeen diagnosed with COVID, who will all have a pre-existing condition that will\r\nallow insurers to deny them care. There are 8 million people all across the\r\ncountry who have a COVID diagnosis, that they know about. That's 8 million\r\npeople on top of the 130 million that already have pre-existing conditions that\r\nwill be discriminated against because of that diagnosis. So it's\r\njust really charming to listen to our Republican colleagues try to claim that\r\nAmy Coney Barrett's nomination is about something other than the repeal of the\r\nAffordable Care Act. We have been watching them chase and chase and chase and\r\nchase this bus for a decade. And they are a couple days away from catching it.\r\nThe result is going to be a humanitarian disaster in this country in the middle\r\nof a pandemic. And while it may be so late in the game that our chances are\r\nslim to be able to stop it, their voters will remember in 10 days. And then we\r\nwill be left in January with the task of picking up the pieces. So\r\nLeslie, thank you very much for bringing us together to talk about the just\r\ntremendous, tremendously high stakes of this decision that the Senate is about\r\nto make. ###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.murphy.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/republicans-are-ramming-through-judge-barretts-confirmation-vote-so-they-can-finally-destroy-peoples-health-care"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.3063510414212942, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}