WASHINGTON, D.C. – Oregon’s Senator Jeff Merkley released the following statement after Senate Republicans narrowly voted to bring a health care bill to the floor, despite bipartisan opposition and the fact that no one knows what will be in the final bill:
“Proceeding to a mystery health care plan is as reckless as dismantling the plane you’re flying in, and then asking during freefall what tools and parts are available to rebuild it.
“No one knows what will be in this final health care bill, but to date every Republican health care plan has had one major thing in common: They all would rip health care away from more than 20 million Americans. That’s unacceptable and indefensible.
“Even as we speak, the GOP’s reckless health care strategy is destabilizing health care markets and forcing premiums to rise. The longer we toy with this uncertainty and contemplate destroying health care for millions of Americans, the higher a price the American people will have to pay—literally.”