Sen. Coons: “To do this with no substantive hearings on this bill, with no bill right now, and with no opportunity for the folks who care for us, for nurses and doctors, health care providers, hospital leaders, to testify about it is just malpractice in public health.”

Sen. Coons on Trump possibly firing AG Sessions during August recess: “We’re going to take steps to make sure that the president doesn’t have the ability to make a recess appointment.”

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today joined CNN New Day to discuss his reactions to Anthony Scaramucci’s exclusive interview, Attorney General Sessions, and recent developments in the ongoing health care debate.

“What we think the Republicans are ultimately going to go to is a so-called skinny repeal. But from what we understand about it, it will be a big fat problem for about 16 million Americans who will get thrown off of health care if they repeal the individual mandate, the employer mandate, the medical device tax and the public health improvement fund of the ACA, which is what we are guessing will be in the final sort of thinned down repeal approach,” said Senator Coons. “It will actually have a huge and negative impact on millions of Americans. To do this with no substantive hearings on this bill, with no bill right now, and with no opportunity for the folks who care for us, for nurses and doctors, health care providers, hospital leaders, to testify about it is just malpractice in public health.”

Full audio and video available here.

Excerpts from the interview:

Senator Coons on Anthony Scaramucci: I thought that was a striking exchange. And I -- I almost don't know what to say in response. I mean, embedded in that very long exchange with Chris Cuomo were a couple of pretty striking suggestions. To me, the one that jumped out was that President Trump might veto a very strong bipartisan Russia sanctions bill. It came out of the Senate 98-2. If that's not a veto-proof majority, I don't know what is. It came out of the House with an even greater margin. And it would impose new sanctions on Russia, on Iran, and on North Korea. I think there's no doubt that all three of those countries are adversaries of the United States, pose a threat to the United States, and the idea that the president wouldn't embrace that leadership from the Congress is pretty striking. Of all the things that Anthony Scaramucci had to say, that one sort of jumped off the page at me. 

 Senator Coons on President Trump and a possible recess appointment for Attorney General:Well, first, I think before we go out on recess, we're going to take steps to make sure that the president doesn't have the ability to make a recess appointment. This was an issue that was litigated when President Obama was in office. The Supreme Court made it clear only if we recess for ten days or more does the president have the ability to make a recess appointment. And one of the few powers the minority has is to set the terms of adjournment in negotiation with the majority. I think that there were very strong statements by conservative Republican senators that they would be upset by the abrupt firing of the attorney general. The Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Chuck Grassley of Iowa, we're not likely to be taking up a new attorney general confirmation. So I think there's strong pushback both in defense of attorney general by his friends and former colleagues here, and I think you will see some tough work by Democrats to make sure that the president doesn't have a window to make a recess appointment. And I think that's a good thing that we're working in a bipartisan way to make sure we're following the regular order and that the Senate isn't cut out of its constitutional role of advice and consent. 

 Senator Coons on having his own issues with Sessions:Yes. 


 Senator Coons on his letter regarding Sessions’ recusals:What I would like the attorney general to do is honor his recusal. He did the right thing in his confirmation hearing and in the days afterwards in saying that he would step back from any ongoing investigation involving the presidential campaign. He was one of President Trump's earliest supporters and strongest advisers. He campaigned with him across the country. When some concerns were raised in his confirmation hearing about how independent he might if there were an investigation ongoing into either the Trump campaign and potential collusion with Russia or revisiting of the Hillary Clinton e-mail issue. He voluntarily recused himself, which was the right thing to do in terms of DOJ policy. I want him to respect that. If he has stepped back from matters involved in the presidential campaign, then why was he directly involved in firing FBI Director Jim Comey were the publicly given reasons for why he was fired were either because of his handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation, that’s what Rod Rosenstein said, or because of the Russia investigation and trying to get it, quote/unquote, off my back, which I believe is what President Trump said. So I just want to make sure he's doing his job, he’s doing his job in compliance with recusal and continuing to direct the Department of Justice in a way that keeps faith with the commitments he made to those of us in the Senate who had some real concerns about his unreported meetings with the Russian ambassador. 

 Senator Coons on health care: Well, the first big question is what's the bill? Remember, 50 Republican senators voted to go into debate on a bill without having a bill. So Minority Leader Chuck Schumer last night said we're going to stop moving forward on Democratic amendments until we see the actual bill. They are calling it a skinny repeal. What we think the Republicans are ultimately going to go to is a so-called skinny repeal. But from what we understand about it, it will be a big fat problem for about 16 million Americans who will get thrown off of health care if they repeal the individual mandate, the employer mandate, the medical device tax, and the public health improvement fund of the ACA, which is what we are guessing will be in the final sort of thinned-down repeal approach. It will actually have a huge and negative impact on millions of Americans. To do this with no substantive hearings on this bill, with no bill right now and with no opportunity for the folks who care for us, for nurses and doctors, health care providers, hospital leaders, to testify about it is just malpractice in public health. 

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