Sen. Murphy on Future of ACA and Scotus Vacancy: 'This Is a Life or Death Moment'

WASHINGTON, Sept. 23 -- Sen. Christopher Murphy, D-Connecticut, issued the following news release on Sept. 22:

U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), a member of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, along with Protect Our Care's Executive Director Brad Woodhouse and health care advocate Laura Packard, on Tuesday highlighted what's at stake with the U.S. Supreme Court vacancy, and specifically what it means for the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and the future of Americans' health care.

On the press call, Murphy discussed President Trump's efforts to overturn the ACA, throw our entire health care system into chaos in the midst of a global pandemic, and end protections for 135 million Americans with pre-existing conditions, including those with COVID-19.

"Donald Trump has been clear. He is only going to put people on the court who are going to overturn the Affordable Care Act. And Brad [Woodhouse] is exactly right," said Murphy. "Republicans are rushing through this nominee, are declaring their support before they even know who it is, because they want to make sure that they have a 5-4, or 6-3 decision on that November case to overturn the entirety of the Affordable Care Act."

Murphy continued: "The consequences are absolutely catastrophic for American families if a right-wing justice gets appointed to this court, and Donald Trump and Republicans will finally get what they want, which is the elimination of protections for people with pre-existing condition and the elimination of health care insurance for 25 million Americans."

Murphy also noted how catastrophic overturning the ACA could be during the middle of COVID-10: "[T]his all happens in the middle of a pandemic. I mean, it would have been a humanitarian disaster in 2017 for health care to be eliminated for 25 million Americans, imagine what that will look like in the middle of a public health epidemic that has already killed 200,000 Americans....If this right-wing justice gets appointed to the court and the ACA is overturned, everybody in this country who has COVID or ever tests positive for the antibodies is going to have their insurance rates jacked up through the roof. And so, given the circumstances of the current pandemic, this choice is even more important."

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

"Thanks a lot for convening us. Thanks Laura, for your leadership as well. Thanks, everybody for being on the call.

"This is a life or death moment. Donald Trump has made it clear that he is only interested in putting people on the Supreme Court who will overturn the Affordable Care Act. He says, this is his quote: 'my Judicial Appointments will do the right thing unlike Bush's appointee, John Roberts, on Obamacare.' He said 'we're going to have a strong test. I'm disappointed in Roberts, because he gave us Obamacare.'

"Donald Trump has been clear. He is only going to put people on the court who are going to overturn the Affordable Care Act. And Brad [Woodhouse] is exactly right. Republicans are rushing through this nominee, are declaring their support before they even know who it is, because they want to make sure that they have a 5-4, 6-3 decision on that November case to overturn the entirety of the Affordable Care Act.

"And let's be clear, that case calls for the entirety of the Affordable Care Act to be invalidated, which means likely overnight, 25 million people losing their health care, 135 million Americans having their rates go up because they have pre-existing conditions, two and a half million adult children being kicked off their parent's insurance. The consequences are absolutely catastrophic for American families if a right-wing justice gets appointed to this court, and Donald Trump and Republicans will finally get what they want, which is the elimination of protections for people with pre-existing condition and the elimination of health care insurance for 25 million Americans.

"And so this is, you know, clearly what's at stake. We are not giving up. We are not conceding the fact that Republican senators are going to knowingly vote for a judge who is, within days of appointment, potentially going to overturn an Affordable Care Act that is increasingly popular amongst the American public.

"Remember, a lot of political pundits said that there was nothing we could do to stop the repeal of the ACA in 2017. Well, ultimately, there was a national uprising in which people made clear that there would be political consequences for Republicans who supported the elimination of their health care, and ultimately, the ACA survived.

"I think we have the ability to muster that same kind of political uprising over the course of the next several weeks. And, of course, this all happens in the middle of a pandemic. I mean, it would have been a humanitarian disaster in 2017 for health care to be eliminated for 25 million Americans, imagine what that will look like in the middle of a public health epidemic that has already killed 200,000 Americans.

"What we also know is that COVID is likely going to be a pre-existing condition. And in fact, I'll say it, COVID is going to be a pre-existing condition because of the damage we know it potentially does to your heart. And we will learn over the course of the years how many Americans had COVID because folks will get the antibody test.

"If this right-wing justice gets appointed to the court and the ACA is overturned, everybody in this country who has COVID or ever tests positive for the antibodies is going to have their insurance rates jacked up through the roof. And so, given the circumstances of the current pandemic, this choice is even more important.

"So, you know, this all of a sudden became a health care insurance election. And we're going to make sure that voters understand the consequences to their health care that could occur almost immediately if this judge gets put on the court.

"Now, one of the questions may be well, normally a judge who didn't hear the arguments, you know, wouldn't rule. Well, you know, if the judge gets put on the court before the election, then they can participate in the hearing. But even if the appointment happens in the lame duck, I fully expect that the court will just rehear the arguments. Alito, Thomas, Kavanaugh, Gorsuch, Coney Barrett as a Supreme Court majority is going to do anything they need to do in order to overturn the Affordable Care Act, including rescheduling the hearing on this case.

"So that's why this is so critical, and that's why I want to jump on this call today. So with that I'll turn it over. I'm going to try to stay on for questions, but I may end up having to run up to a vote."