Connecticut's two Democratic U.S. Senators have both urged Republicans to scrap their contentious health care reform bill, and to work in a bipartisan way to fix the Affordable Care Act.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office's analysis of the Senate Republican health care bill finds that it would leave 22 million more Americans uninsured by 2026.
Speaking on the floor of the Senate, Chris Murphy called the effects of the Republicans’ bill a humanitarian disaster.
“It doesn’t solve a single problem in the American health care system,” Murphy said. “There are big problems. Twenty-six million people still don’t have insurance. This bill makes it worse.”
He acknowledged people are paying too much for insurance under the Affordable Care Act.
“Especially those folks who are making middle incomes, who are just outside of qualifying for the ACA subsidies -- this bill makes it worse,” he said.
Senator Richard Blumenthal also opposed the Republican measure. In a statement, he said that no senator can “look our constituents in the eye, look at ourselves in the mirror, look inside our hearts, and justify a vote for this bill.”
Threats of opposition from four Republican senators are casting doubt on whether GOP leaders have enough support to move ahead on the bill. They can afford to lose only two GOP senators and still count on Vice President Mike Pence for a tie-breaking vote.
