Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell Tuesday accused Democrats of making “hysterical claims” about Judge Amy Coney Barrett, whom President Trump nominated to the Supreme Court on Saturday.
“One of the pre-selected scare tactics is that Judge Barrett is out to steal Americans’ healthcare coverage,” the Kentucky Republican said on the Senate floor. “That’s the claim. This mother of seven, including multiple children who were born or adopted facing pre-existing condition medical challenges, is just itching to block families like hers from accessing medical care. What a joke. What a joke.”
Senate Democrats are poised to oppose Barrett unanimously, based in part on their view that she will vote to overturn Obamacare in a case that the Supreme Court will consider one week after the Nov. 3 election.
Senate Republicans are on course to vote on Barrett’s confirmation, likely before the election.
Barrett arrived in the Capitol on Tuesday morning to begin meeting with senators. So far, only Republicans are scheduled to meet with her.
Democrats base their claim about Barrett on an academic paper she authored in 2017 in which she argued Chief Justice John Roberts went too far in voting to uphold Obamacare in 2012.
Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, said his belief that Barrett will vote to overturn the law is among the main reasons he’ll oppose her nomination.
McConnell said the paper authored by Barrett concerned the individual mandate, which was eliminated in 2017 by a Republican-majority vote in Congress.
“The entire argument seems to come down to a technical analysis that Judge Barrett put forward in a four-year-old academic paper about one part of Obamacare, which Congress has already zeroed out,” he said. “In the meantime, these hysterical claims collapse under the slightest examination.”
[Read more: Amy Coney Barrett will energize Trump base, annoy liberals: ‘He loves that Democrats are furious’]
McConnell on Tuesday showered praise on Barrett, a conservative favorite for the high court.
McConnell criticized Democrats and news outlets for raising the alarm over Barrett’s commitment to the Catholic faith, and he lambasted claims Barrett, 48, would work to reverse women’s rights.
McConnell met privately with Barrett Tuesday morning when she arrived with Vice President Mike Pence.
“I left our discussion even more convinced that President Trump has nominated exactly the kind of outstanding person whom the American people deserve to have on their highest court,” McConnell said.
