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Following the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Republicans are already keen to vote on Donald Trump’s nominee Amy Coney Barrett. As Democrats pressure the GOP-controlled Senate to delay a vote until after the elections, Joe Biden says the party’s push to fill in the seat left by Ginsburg as a way to dismantle healthcare.
Speaking near his home in Wilmington, Delaware, Biden did not address some calls to expand the court should he win the election but addressed what Trump’s nomination and the Senate’s confirmation of Barrett would mean for Americans. The former vice president cited the administration’s ongoing push to end Obamacare, also known as the Affordable Care Act, is one of the prime examples of what might be scrapped once Barrett, a conservative, becomes the new Supreme Court Justice, succeeding Ginsburg, who was known for her liberal views.
“They see an opportunity to overturn the Affordable Care Act on their way out the door,” said Biden. “The Trump Administration is asking the Supreme Court right now, as I speak, to eliminate the entire Affordable Care Act.”
Justices are scheduled to hear another challenge to repeal the ACA on November 10, seven days after the election. The former vice president noted that the previous two rulings that were in their favor and against the administration, were narrowly divided with Ginsburg being among the narrow majority. Biden, after reading the administration’s brief before the court, said, “President Trump could claim all he wants that he is going to protect people with preexisting conditions. But the fact is that he’s already fighting to take those protections away.”
Meanwhile, as mandated by the electoral process, Biden is in the midst of recruiting people to be on his presidential transition team should he win the election in November. Cindy McCain, the widow of the late Republican Senator John McCain was tapped to be part of the advisory board for a possible incoming Biden-Harris administration.
McCain is the second Republican who will be serving on the advisory board alongside Bob McDonald, the former secretary of Veterans Affairs during the Obama-Biden administration. Compared to previous transition teams, which put emphasis on national security, Biden’s team would be involved in addressing public health and economic policy this time due to the pandemic.
