Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) warned of “profoundly serious consequences” if former President Trump wins the upcoming election.
Warren, in an op-ed published Saturday in The New York Times, criticized Trump for his non-answer to a question about repealing the Affordable Care Act during this week’s presidential debate.
“After ducking and weaving, he came up with: ‘I have concepts of a plan.’ Uh, that’s not a plan,” Warren wrote.
The Massachusetts senator said plans are important because they test ideas and the people advancing them. Plans reveal what, and who, candidates care about, she argued.
“And in a presidential race, if either party’s nominee is asked about his or her plans for something as fundamental as health care, voters should get a straight answer,” Warren wrote.
Warren said Trump’s health care plan has been “on full display for years.” She detailed how in 2017 Republicans tried to repeal the Affordable Care Act and Trump hosted a party at the White House to celebrate. She said she, then-Senator Harris and other Senate Democrats worried as they voted and “felt the weight of people’s lives on the line.”
She argued that voters have decided they like what benefits the Affordable Care Act has given them, and that can be seen through the GOP’s losses in 2018 and 2020. Republican lawmakers know this and have “since smartened up” but Trump has not, Warren said.
“He seems to realize that his health-care plans are deeply unpopular, so he simply doesn’t talk about them,” she wrote.
Warren noted that it’s reasonable for voters to want to know candidates’ policy stances and plans. It’s why Vice President Harris was pressed on her issues and recently released policy stances on her website, Warren argued, adding that Trump should also be held to that same expectation.
“As Ms. Harris has pointed out, Mr. Trump is not a serious man, and ‘concepts of a plan’ is a silly dodge. But, as she also noted, a Trump presidency would have profoundly serious consequences — including life-or-death outcomes for millions of people who could lose access to health care.”
The Hill has reached out to the Trump campaign for comment.