Trump blasts Democrats over Obamacare histrionics during Barrett hearings

President Trump on Monday ripped Senate Democrats during the confirmation hearing for Judge Amy Coney Barrett's nomination to the Supreme Court after they made Obamacare their top talking point.

Senator after senator defended the 2009 law called the Affordable Care Act (ACA), with nearly all touting a picture of a constituent and claiming they were greatly helped by the federal health care program.

"We will have Healthcare which is FAR BETTER than ObamaCare, at a FAR LOWER COST — BIG PREMIUM REDUCTION. PEOPLE WITH PRE EXISTING CONDITIONS WILL BE PROTECTED AT AN EVEN HIGHER LEVEL THAN NOW," Trump wrote on  Twitter.

"HIGHLY UNPOPULAR AND UNFAIR INDIVIDUAL MANDATE ALREADY TERMINATED," he continued.

In another tweet, Trump targeted his own party: "Republicans must state loudly and clearly that WE are going to provide much better Healthcare at a much lower cost. Get the word out! Will always protect pre-existing conditions!" 

Throughout the first of at least three days of hearings — which featured opening statements from all the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee — Democrats sat in front of photos from their home states or held them up if they appeared remotely.

Sen. Kamala Harris, the California Democrat who is Joe Biden's running mate, joined the ranks. 

"We need to be clear about how overturning of the ACA will impact the people we all represent. For example, Myka, who is 11 years old and lives in Southern California," she said, holding up a picture.

"Myka enjoys being a Girl Scout, reading, ice-skating, eating pasta, and baking," Harris continued via remote connection from her Senate office. "Her mother says the only reason Myka is able to live her life as she does now is because the Affordable Care Act guarantees that her health insurance can't deny coverage or limit her care because it's too expensive.

"You see, Myka has a congenital heart defect. She goes to multiple specialists throughout the year and gets an MRI with anesthesia every six months. At just 11 months old, Myka's family had already hit $500,000 in medical expenses. Her biannual MRI costs $15,000 a session." 

"If Republicans succeed in striking down the ACA, insurance companies will be able to deny coverage to children with serious conditions," Harris added. "Children like Myka — and parents — will be on their own."

Other Democrats said much the same thing.

"The president has promised to appoint justices who will vote to dismantle that law," said ranking Democrat Dianne Feinstein in her opening remarks. "As a candidate he criticized the Supreme Court for upholding the law and said, 'If I win the presidency, my judicial appointments will do the right thing, unlike Bush's appointee John Roberts on Obamacare.' And when he appointed Judge Barrett to fill Justice Ginsburg's seat, the president said that eliminating the Affordable Care Act would be 'a big WIN for the USA.'"

"This Supreme Court nominee has signaled in the judicial equivalent of all caps that she believes the Affordable Care Act must go and that the precedent protecting the ACA doesn't matter," said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI). "The big secretive influences behind this unseemly rush see this nominee as a judicial torpedo they are firing at the ACA."

"President Trump has promised over and over and over again that he would repeal the Affordable Care Act," said Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) "He ran on that promise, but despite his very best efforts, he failed. My Republican colleagues here and in the house have voted over and over and over to repeal the Affordable Care Act since it was passed a decade ago, but thankfully for the people of our nation and my state they too have been unsuccessful."And yet today to make good on that promise to achieve what they could not accomplish through the democratic processes, they're looking to the courts, in fact, to the court, they're looking to this nominee," Coons said.