U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said on Monday he believes there will be three Republican senators who will vote with Democrats to block the repeal of the Affordable Care Act.
Speaking to reporters in Hartford, Blumenthal wouldn’t say who the three Republicans are, but he did say they are moderate Republicans who know how catastrophic it would be if the ACA is repealed and millions of Americans lose their health care coverage.
“I think they’ll break with their party, especially the extreme hard right that are demanding complete repeal without any replacement. I have hope that politically, in the Senate, we can get the three votes we need, and it’s just three votes to block it.”
That’s because the GOP has a 52-seat majority in the Senate. Blumenthal was joined by fellow Democrat Elizabeth Esty, Connecticut’s 5th District congresswoman. She says Republican senators can expect to hear from a lot of their constituents if the ACA is repealed, “who are going to call and say, ‘Here’s my bill, right, here is my medical bill, I’m sending it to you member of Congress. I want you to pay it because you promised me you were going to take care me.’ And I think that’s what may cause some members of the GOP in the Senate to say we don’t really want that.”
The U.S. Senate will be taking up a number of budget votes this week that could lead to repeal of the ACA.
