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Bennet, Gardner React To Senate's Health Care Bill

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President Trump meeting with lawmakers in March, 2017, to discuss plans to repeal Obamacare.

Republicans in the U.S. Senate today released a health plan meant to replace former President Obama’s Affordable Care Act. Colorado’s two senators, Republican Cory Gardner and Democrat Michael Bennet have reacted.

Bennet criticized Republicans for crafting the bill behind closed doors.

"Instead of writing a bill in secret and rushing to pass it before an arbitrary deadline, we should work in a bipartisan and transparent way to provide more predictability, affordability and transparency to give Coloradans the health care system they deserve," said Bennet in a statement.

He added that the bill is "just as bad, if not worse" than the most recent repeal-and-replace bill from the House of Representatives.

Gardner’s office, meanwhile, said the senator has had a limited role in crafting the bill.

"I am beginning to carefully review it as we continue to look at ways to rescue Colorado from the continued negative impacts of the Affordable Care Act on our healthcare system," he said in a statement released to KUNC. "It’s frustrating that instead of actually reviewing the legislative text some have decided to immediately oppose the bill before it was even introduced. This deserves serious debate, not knee-jerk reaction."

A full vote on the Senate’s health care bill is slated for the last week of June.

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