Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) responded to a Republican congressman’s claim that no one dies because they don’t have access to health care, in an interview released Monday: “What the fuck is that?”
“These folks are playing politics with public health,” Harris said in an interview on “Pod Save America.”
She said the Republican bill to repeal and replace Obamacare, which narrowly passed the House last week, “will turn back the clock to before the Affordable Care Act.” The Senate now takes up the effort, but reports indicate that the upper chamber will write its own bill, rather than vote on the the House version.
“It’s worse than things were before the Affordable Care Act,” Harris said. “So they’re engaged in all of this happy talk, that is bull—”
She caught herself, and said, “Not truth,” to laughter from the audience.
“You can say whatever you want up here,” one host said. “We say ‘bullshit.'”
“Yeah, I have all kinds of words,” Harris said.
She said Republicans “believe health care is a privilege, not a right.”
“Like this guy who, this congressman,” Harris said. “You might as well say, ‘Well, people don’t starve because they don’t have food.’ What the fuck is that?”
Harris did not specify which member of Congress made that remark, but Rep. Raul Labrador (R-ID) faced boos at a town hall on Friday after claiming that “nobody dies because they don’t have access to health care.”
“How can you say that? It doesn’t make sense, on a fundamental level. And it’s not truth,” Harris continued over cheering. “It’s just not true.”
