Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden late Monday tore into Senate Republicans for the “rushed and unprecedented” confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court amid the election, pointing at its potentially damaging blow to health care provisions for millions of Americans as the high court prepares for a hearing on the Affordable Care Act.
“The rushed and unprecedented confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett as Associate Justice to the Supreme Court, in the middle of an ongoing election, should be a stark reminder to every American that your vote matters,” Biden said in a statement.
As Senate Republicans have pushed to quickly confirm Trump’s nominee to the Supreme Court, Democrats and health care advocates have pointed at the newly-confirmed justice’s likelihood of voting to strike down what has become a key election issue amid the coronavirus pandemic — the Affordable Care Act, which protects the health care of at least 20 million people in the United States.
“Just a few days after Election Day next week, the Supreme Court will hear the case on the Affordable Care Act,” Biden said, adding that President Donald Trump has “been crystal clear” on his desire to wipe out the Obama-era health care policy.
During a CBS interview on “60 Minutes” that the President leaked last week, when asked about the policy of his predecessor, Trump said “I hope that they end it.”
“It will be so good if they end it because we will come up with a plan,” Trump told correspondent Lesley Stahl in the interview of his yet-to-be-achieved campaign goal of four years ago do away with the health care policy.
“This goal — the goal of the Republican Party for ten years — was a litmus test in selecting this nominee, regardless of the damage done to the U.S. Senate, to Americans’ faith in the legitimacy of the Supreme Court, and to our democracy, and regardless of how the Affordable Care Act has protected hundreds of millions of people before and during the pandemic,” Biden said.
“Vote for a president, for Members of Congress, and candidates up and down the ticket who actually have a plan for health care, and who will build on the Affordable Care Act to expand coverage, bring down costs, and give you more choices,” the Democratic nominee said.
Closing with a more emotional tone, Biden urged voters to consider casting their ballot to honor “the legacy of the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg,” whose death in September set off the hurried effort to replace her with the more ideologically conservative Barrett.
“She was proof that courage, conviction, and moral clarity can change not just the law, but also the world. Let us continue to be voices for justice in her name,” Biden said.
