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Blumenthal: Healthcare Central to SCOTUS Nominee Hearing

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut)
Lauren Victoria Burke
/
AP
Conn. Sen. Richard Blumenthal

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says confirmation hearings regarding the president’s nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court will begin Monday, despite some members of the judiciary committee testing positive for COVID-19.

Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal is also a member of that committee. Blumenthal says Coney Barrett’s confirmation would spell the end for the Affordable Care Act. He says healthcare will be the central focus of the hearing.

“My question to Amy Coney Barrett is going to be ‘why take away that protection and access to healthcare coverage for the millions of Americans who suffer from pre-existing conditions, including tens of thousands in Connecticut," Blumenthal says. "It seems heartless, misguided and wrong.”

Blumenthal says 56,000 state residents who take insulin for diabetes may no longer be able to afford it without the ACA. He says he wants the nomination to wait until after the presidential election.