Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) condemned Senate Republicans’ bill to repeal Obamacare minutes after it was publicly released Thursday, calling it “worse than expected.”
“For weeks, Republicans have been drafting their health care bill in secret, refusing to hold hearings or public debate,” Sanders said in a statement. “Now we know why.”
“The bill Republicans announced today is even worse than expected and by far the most harmful piece of legislation I have seen in my lifetime,” he added.
Senate Republicans’ proposal, which is expected to come up for a vote on the Senate floor next week, proposes deeper long-term cuts to Medicaid than House Republicans’ bill while offering slightly more generous tax credits for individuals purchasing insurance on the individual market, although those credits are far less generous than Obamacare’s subsidies.
“This bill has nothing to do with health care,” Sanders said in the statement. “It has everything to do with an enormous transfer of wealth from working people to the richest Americans.”
Read Sanders’ full statement below, via the New York Times’ Nick Corasaniti:
Speedy statement out of @SenSanders on the Senate Health bill pic.twitter.com/59jNi3JD5C
— Nick Corasaniti (@NYTnickc) June 22, 2017
