09.28.20

Durbin Statement On President Trump's Supreme Court Nomination Of Amy Coney Barrett

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today released the following statement on President Donald Trump’s nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court:

“We are 38 days from Election Day.  And we are 45 days from the Supreme Court taking up the case that will decide whether the Affordable Care Act will survive.  President Trump and Majority Leader McConnell want to rush Judge Barrett’s nomination through the Senate before those two dates arrive.

“It is clear why Republicans have reversed their position from 2016 about giving the American people ‘a voice’ in filling an election year vacancy.  They want another vote on the Supreme Court for their lawsuit to overturn the Affordable Care Act—eliminating health insurance for millions, ending protections for people with pre-existing conditions, and raising costs for millions more—in the middle of a pandemic.

“John McCain stopped Republicans from repealing the Affordable Care Act on the Senate floor.  Now they are trying to accomplish in the Supreme Court what they could not accomplish in Congress.  That’s why President Trump made clear he would only put forward a nominee who would overturn the Affordable Care Act.

“What’s at stake with this nomination is the fate of affordable, quality health care and pre-existing conditions protections for millions of Americans.”

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