GOP senator on ObamaCare: ‘The public wants every dime they can be given’

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) on Tuesday said repealing ObamaCare may be difficult because “the public wants every dime they can be given.”

“Let’s face it, once you get them on the dole, they’ll take every dime they can,” he told CNN. “We’ve got to find some way of getting things under control or this country and your future is going to be gone.”

Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) blasted Hatch for saying those who need healthcare are “on the dole.”

{mosads}”People who are getting access to healthcare are not on the dole. They are working families. They are, by circumstances most of us hope we don’t get into, have a very seriously ill child or spouse. This is America,” she said.

Hatch was leaving a meeting of the Senate GOP’s healthcare working group, which is trying to craft the upper chamber’s ObamaCare replacement legislation. Hatch, the Senate Finance Committee chairman, is one of 13 Republicans on the working group.

The House last Thursday passed its healthcare bill. The Senate is putting together its own legislation that can pass the chamber, rather than taking up the House’s.

No Democrat voted for the House bill, and all Senate Democrats are expected to oppose the Senate version.