Democrat Caucus: Republican’s Push to Fill Supreme Court Seat is to Repeal Obamacare

House Democratic Caucus Chairman Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) speaks as House Democratic Caucus Vice Chair Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) listens during a news conference after a caucus meeting at the U.S. Capitol in Washington in a Jan. 9, 2019, file photograph. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

The House Democrat Caucus on Tuesday criticized President Donald Trump and Senate Republicans for hurrying to fill the Supreme Court seat before Nov. 3 election for one main purpose, to repeal Obamacare.

The Trump administration has filed a lawsuit to repeal Obamacare, also known as the Affordable Care Act (ACA).  The Supreme Court will hear the case on Nov. 10 in which the Justice Department argues, that the ACA is unconstitutional and therefore should be wiped out.

“Before the country has even had an opportunity to appropriately mourn Justice Ginsburg and send her off, they’re already trying to jam a right-wing conservative judge down the throats of the American people as part of a scheme to take away the health care of millions of Americans,” Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), Chair of the House Democratic Caucus, told reporters in the Capitol on Tuesday.

Republican Senators have said they will vote for and approve a conservative judge before the election on Nov. 3. If the new GOP justice is confirmed, the high court would go from 5-4 to 6-3, in favor of conservatives.

Democrat leaders claim repealing the ACA is the main reason for GOP’s urgency in filling Justice Ginsburg’s seat.

“This fight for a Supreme Court justice really is about health care and the upcoming ACA hearing,” said Rep. Katherine Clark (D-Mass.), the vice-chair of the Caucus.

Meanwhile, at a press conference on the same day, Senator Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said that the Senate will vote on President Trump’s nominee who is likely to be a highly qualified woman. Sen. Thune (R-S.D.) added that the GOP is mainly looking for a nominee who will uphold the constitution and not take a political stand.

“Most of us came to the Senate, ran for the Senate, in a lot of ways for big moments like this, for an opportunity to fill seats on the Supreme Court in with nominees that believe in the constitution, the rule of law and want to ensure that it’s applied in the work that they do on the court,” Thune stressed at a press conference Tuesday.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) (C) speaks to the media on Capitol Hill in Washington on March 21, 2017. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

Ginsburg’s passing has sparked intense controversy, with Democrats saying that Republicans (who controlled the Senate in 2016) opposed former Democratic President Obama’s pick in 2016 for the supreme court.

McConnell and Senate Republicans argue 2020 is different from 2016 because the same party controls the White House and the Senate now. The GOP also argue that Democrats would do the same if they were in their position.

“What matters most to Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell and as our chairman put it, ‘the boys.' His power, not saving lives or jobs, not preventing millions of Americans from spilling into homelessness, not defending our Constitution,” Clark said.

Some Experts estimate that repealing Obamacare would eliminate health coverage for close to 20 million people, while others say the ACA has significantly increased premiums for those privately insured, and close to 7 million have lost their health coverage under the ACA.

The members of the Democratic Caucus criticized the president for his handling of the pandemic and for wanting to repeal the ACA.

“They don’t have an alternative to the Affordable Care Act. They’re in court right now trying to declare it unconstitutional and they want to put a justice on the Supreme Court who will strip away the protections that millions of Americans, over 100 million Americans with preexisting conditions, currently have under law,” Jeffries said.

However, President Trump has argued that ACA is too expensive and gives little or no choice to people for the quality of care, choosing their doctor and drives up health care costs for the individual. Trump also criticized Democrats for wanting to socialize healthcare, which he said, would get rid of coverage for pre-existing conditions.

“And we are not going to hurt anything having to do with preexisting conditions. We’re not going to hurt preexisting conditions. And, in fact, just the opposite,” President Trump said at a town hall event Sept. 15. “We’re going to be doing a healthcare plan very strongly and protect people with preexisting conditions,” the president added.

When pressed by New Anchor, George Stephanopoulos about his administration’s court battle over repealing Obamacare President Trump responded, “Obamacare was a disaster. Obamacare is too expensive; the premiums are too high. It’s a total disaster.”

Trump told Stephanopoulos that his soon to be released healthcare plan will be better and cover pre-existing conditions.

The White House argues that replacing Obamacare will force insurance companies to compete for their customers, providing people with lower costs and higher-quality service.