Sanders: Canceled ObamaCare repeal vote ‘major victory’ for working class

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Friday lauded the canceled vote on the House’s ObamaCare repeal bill, calling it a “major victory” for working-class Americans.

“The defeat of the disastrous Trump-Ryan health care bill is a major victory for the working families of this country and for the hundreds of thousands who attended rallies and town hall meetings in opposition to this bill,” Sanders said in a statement.

{mosads}”What the defeat of this bill shows is that the American people will not accept legislation that provides huge tax breaks to billionaires while 24 million people are kicked off their health insurance, massive cuts are made to Medicaid and Planned Parenthood and premiums for senior citizens are dramatically increased,” he added.

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) announced that he would pull the bill from consideration on Friday just before a scheduled afternoon vote. He said that ObamaCare “will remain the law of the land” for the foreseeable future.

Sanders maintained that the lawmakers should seek to improve ObamaCare instead of pushing to repeal it.

“Our job is to improve the Affordable Care Act, not repeal it. Our job is to guarantee health care to all people as a right, not a privilege,” he said.