Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) talked to Anderson Cooper Thursday night about the Obamacare replacement that was passed by Republicans in the House of Representatives. Cooper asked Sanders to elaborate on a tweet he made earlier in the day that said: "Donald Trump and Republicans just celebrated voting to let thousands of Americans die so that billionaires get tax breaks."



"Do you think thousands of Americans will die?" Cooper asked the 2016 presidential candidate.



"Absolutely. No question," Sanders answered. "The bill passed today in the House became law thousands of Americans would die because they would no longer have access to health care."



"This was not a health care bill. This was a bill that provided $300 billion in tax breaks to the wealthiest 2 percent at a time when we already have massive income inequality in America today," Sanders said on CNN's Anderson Cooper 360.



Transcript, via CNN:





ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Tonight, President Trump and House Republicans are celebrating what they are calling a major victory. Today the House passed by a whisker the GOP health care bill. True, it is the first piece of major legislation that President Trump has succeed in getting passed the first hurdle in Congress.



But as we've been discussing, it was a heavy lift and now an even higher hurdle is looming in the Senate where the battle is expected to go to a whole new level. Senator Bernie Sanders joins us now.



Senator Sanders, earlier this afternoon you tweeted "Donald Trump and Republicans just celebrated voting to let thousands of Americans die so that billionaires get tax breaks." Is that really what you think is happening here? Do you think thousands of Americans will die if…



SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I), VERMONT: Exactly. Absolutely. No question. If, if, which is not going to happen, Anderson. But if the bill passed today in the House became law thousands of Americans would die because they would no longer have access to health care.



Anderson, it is wrong to talk about what happened in the House today as a health care bill. This was not a health care bill. This was a bill that provided $300 billion in tax breaks to the wealthiest 2 percent at a time when we already have massive income inequality in America today.



This was a bill -- what kind of health care bill are we talking about when you throw 24 million people off of health insurance, substantially raise premiums for older workers, de-fund Planned Parenthood?



You know, these guys, Republicans talk about choice, everybody should have a choice. Two-and-a-half million women choose Planned Parenthood. But that's no longer going to be the case. And, by the way, they cut Medicaid by some $800 billion.