Durbin on ACB Nomination: If Senate Were a Sports Team ‘We Would Have Canceled the Game’ with Three Positive COVID Tests

Monday on “MSNBC Live,” Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) urged to postpone Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation hearings to the Supreme Court after Sens. Mike Lee (R-UT), Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Ron Johnson (R-WI) all tested positive for coronavirus.

Durbin equated the confirmation to sporting teams, which he pointed out have canceled games after multiple positive tests. He argued Republicans want to go forward with Barrett’s confirmation because they are “desperate” to eliminate the Affordable Care Act.

“Sadly, three of my colleagues have been diagnosed as having the virus. Now, if this were a baseball team or a football team and three of the players came down with COVID-19, we would have canceled the game and postponed it to a future date,” Durbin advised. “But Mitch McConnell will not have any part of this. He is determined to get her through before November 10. Why? Because the Supreme Court has an oral argument to eliminate the Affordable Care Act on November 10. They’re desperate to get Amy Coney Barrett on the bench by then because eliminating the Affordable Care Act is more important to them than even the health of the members of the Judiciary Committee in the Senate.”

“I pray there won’t be any more, but there could be from these terrible meetings that President Trump had before he himself came down with the virus,” he later added. “And the reality is this: if we were doing the human thing, the sensible thing, the thing that’s healthy and a good image for America, we would postpone this hearing. But they’re hellbent. McConnell is hellbent to have this done so he can eliminate the pre-existing condition protection of the Affordable Care Act. It has been their mission in life since Obamacare passed 10 years ago.”

Follow Trent Baker on Twitter @MagnifiTrent