Schumer: GOP wants to ‘Make America Sick Again’

New Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) says Republicans want to “Make America Sick Again” by trying to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

“It will create chaos. Because you cannot repeal a plan and put nothing in its place. It doesn’t matter if you say the repeal won’t take place for year or two years,” Schumer told Politico Playbook in an interview Wednesday.

Schumer, who is replacing former Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) as the top Democrat in Congress, said Democrats will use the “Make America Sick Again” slogan in healthcare rallies across the country. The line is a play on President-elect Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” campaign tagline.

{mosads}Trump campaigned on the promise to repeal President Obama’s signature healthcare legislation, a fight Democrats are gearing up for as the 115th Congress begins.

“Some of us might want to offer a public option if you kept Obamacare, not if you repealed it,” the senator said. “Some of us would want to give the insurance regulators more clout to come down on the insurance companies. Things like that.”

He also maintained that Democrats won’t “save their butts” if the Republicans “screw it up.”

“Obviously they’re not going to say we won’t look at anything. But the idea of just tweaking a Republican plan that takes away these benefits, the bottom line is there is virtual unanimity in our caucus that we’re all from Missouri: Show me. If they show us a plan, and it’s a plan that we can live with, of course. But we’re not going to sit down in a room with them once they repeal and say let’s figure out a joint plan.”