Chuck Schumer: Focus on Amy Coney Barrett's Healthcare Record 'Like a Laser'

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) wrote in a letter to Senate Democrats on Saturday that they should focus on Supreme Court nominee Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s healthcare record “like a laser.”

Schumer contended in a Dear Colleague letter to Senate Democrats that Judge Barrett’s healthcare record will help build opposition to the Supreme Court nominee.

Schumer wrote:

All the data show that with COVID raging, the number one priority for the American people is health care — its affordability, accessibility and quality. We must focus like a laser on health care because Judge Barrett’s record is so clear on this issue.

Should Judge Barrett get confirmed, she will likely decide on a court case over whether the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) individual mandate violates the Constitution and whether the 2010 healthcare law should be scrapped.

Schumer continued:

Given Senate Republicans‘ monomaniacal drive to fill this vacancy as quickly as possible, the best way to defend those rights is a bipartisan majority that will refuse to vote on a Supreme Court nominee before the election. This will not happen on its own. It requires public pressure on Senate Republicans. Health care remains the best way to keep the pressure up.

Sen. Mike Braun (R-IN), one of the leading proponents of healthcare reform in the Senate GOP conference, has charged that health care serves as a significant liability for Republicans.

Braun said:

That’s been kind of a silly thing to pursue when we’re all publicly saying we’re for covering preexisting conditions. It gives them too much political fodder to work with, that we’re wanting to get rid of Obamacare, which its whole essence was to cover preexisting conditions and no caps on coverage. That’s been a strategic error on the part of Republicans.

Former Vice President Joe Biden lashed out against Barrett’s criticism of Chief Justice John Roberts for upholding Obamacare. Barrett wrote in a law review article in 2017 that Roberts was wrong to say that the individual mandate was a tax, not a penalty.

However, Breitbart News’ Joel Pollak noted that this was a standard view among conservatives and the four dissenting justices held up this view when Robert upheld former Barack Obama’s landmark legislation.

Sean Moran is a congressional reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.

Chuck Schumer: Focus on Amy Coney Barrett’s Healthcare Record ‘Like a Laser’

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