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Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) wasted no time in immediately mobilizing the opposition that will be needed to kill Trumpcare in the US Senate.

In a statement provided to PoliticusUSA, Sen. Sanders said, “The bill that Republicans passed today is an absolute disaster. It really has nothing to do with health care. It has everything to do with an enormous shift of wealth from working people to the richest Americans. This bill would throw 24 million people off of health insurance – including thousands of Vermonters – cut Medicaid by $880 billion, defund Planned Parenthood and substantially increase premiums on older Americans. Meanwhile, it would provide a $300 billion tax break to the top 2 percent and hundreds of billions more to the big drug and insurance companies that are ripping off the American people. Our job now is to rally millions of Americans against this cruel bill to make sure that it does not pass the Senate. Instead of throwing tens of millions of people off of health insurance, we must guarantee health care as a right to all.”

Senate Republicans are already pronouncing the House version of the bill dead on arrival. The Senate version of the legislation will have to be more moderate, but once the Senate changes the House bill, it will require 60 votes to pass.

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Whatever more moderate bill the Senate passes is likely to fail when it goes back to the House.

Sen. Sanders accurately described the legislation that the House passed. It is highly unlikely that the current bill could attract the support of a majority in the Senate. As a member of Senate leadership, Sen. Sanders is in charge of outreach for Senate Democrats. His statement was the first in a series of outreach efforts that are designed to get the base mobilized and fired up to stop Trumpcare.

Bernie Sanders isn’t taking any chances. The Senator from Vermont is building an army for the Senate Democrats, and their mission is the defeat and destruction of Trumpcare.