Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) ripped a GOP lawmaker's claim that individuals won't die without healthcare, saying, "What the f--- is that?"

"Like this guy, this congressman, you might as well say, ‘People don't starve because they don't have food.' What the f--- is that? What are you saying? How can you say that?" Harris asked during an interview with Pod Save America, a podcast run by former Obama staffers.

Harris, a freshman Democrat, appeared to be referring to Rep. Raúl Labrador's (R-Idaho) statement that "nobody dies because they don't have access to healthcare."

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According to a local TV station , Labrador was responding to an assertion that the House-passed healthcare bill mandated "people on Medicaid accept dying."

Labrador was one of 217 GOP lawmakers who voted for the House bill, known as the American Health Care Act. He later said in a statement that the question was based on a "false notion" but admitted his answer "wasn't very elegant."

Asked what Democrats could do to slow the bill down now that it's reached the Senate, Harris said its critics should "just speak the truth."

"The truth is that these folks are playing politics with public health," she said during the interview. "If Republicans want people to lose their healthcare, then the Republicans need to lose their job."

She added that "[Republicans are] engaged in all this happy talk that is bull — not truth."

Republicans have a narrow path to passing a healthcare bill in the Senate. They have a 52-seat majority and can only afford to lose two GOP senators, which would allow Vice President Pence to break a tie.

No Democrat is expected to vote for the bill, though Republicans will likely target 10 Senate Democrats up for reelection in states carried by Trump.

Harris urged liberals to support those red-state Democrats — particularly a handful in states where Trump won by double digits — even if they don't always agree.

"There are many of us who will not agree with as much of 20 percent of what those five say and stand for, but I promise you, you will disagree with 100 percent of what their replacements stand for," she said. "We cannot afford to be purists, and we've got to take care of them."