Cornyn finds himself in the crosshairs on health care at confirmation hearing
WASHINGTON — Texas Sen. John Cornyn was a major target for Senate Democrats on Monday, as they worked to frame the first confirmation hearing for Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett around health care — specifically the high court’s looming consideration of a Texas-led challenge to the Affordable Care Act.
“The travel of the ACA case leads to one senator’s doorstep,” said U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a Rhode Island Democrat, as he made a significant portion of his opening statement about U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, a Texas Republican seeking a fourth term in office.
Barrett has been critical of the Affordable Care Act in the past and could take a seat on the high court just before it hears arguments Nov. 10 in the Texas-led case seeking to strike down the law.
Whitehouse — who in the past has praised Cornyn’s work on bipartisan legislation — sought to tie the Texas Republican to Texas judges who have ruled against the Affordable Care Act, noting Cornyn’s connections to them, and support for them. He also detailed Cornyn’s record on the health care law, saying the former Republican whip “led” the GOP’s failed effort to scrap it in 2017 and noting Cornyn has introduced and co-sponsored numerous bills to repeal and defund the ACA.
“Sen. Cornyn and all of our colleagues are pushing to get this nominee on by Nov. 10 — the time needed to strike down the Affordable Care Act,” Whitehouse said. “Please don’t tell us this isn’t about the Affordable Care Act.”
Cornyn has said there is “no rush” to confirm Barrett before the Nov. 3 elections.
A spokesman for Cornyn dismissed Whitehouse’s attacks as a “bizarre spectacle.”
“Senator Whitehouse has called Senator Cornyn a ‘bridge’ on bipartisan
policy issues, including their signature criminal justice reform law,” said Cornyn spokesman Drew Brandewie. “This bizarre spectacle makes pretty clear how far D.C. Democrats are willing to go just to win an election.”
Health care has also been a central issue in Cornyn's re-election campaign against former Air Force pilot MJ Hegar.
Cornyn, who gave his opening statement before Whitehouse, did not respond to the Rhode Island Democrat. His colleague from Texas, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, did.
“Of every Democrat who's spoken, we've heard virtually not a single word about Judge Barrett,” Cruz said, adding that “on any measure, Judge Barrett's credentials are impeccable.”
“We just heard the senator from Rhode Island directing some attacks at Sen. Cornyn from Texas, and I understand there's an election in a few weeks, so those political attacks are not surprising,” he said. “Our Democratic colleagues simply want a promise from a judicial nominee that this nominee will work to implement their policy vision of health care. That is not a judge's job.”
“I don't know what will happen in this particular litigation on health care,” he said. “But I do know this body should be the one resolving the competing policy questions at issue.”
Cruz notably attended the hearing virtually as he quarantines at home out of caution, even though he tested negative for the coronavirus after coming in contact with U.S. Sen. Mike Lee, a Republican also on the Judiciary Committee who tested positive for the virus earlier this month. Lee, who said he was no longer contagious, was at the hearing in person, sitting next to Cornyn.
Cornyn in his opening statement also touted Barrett's credentials and said she was “on par” with the beloved liberal justice she would replace, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died last month.
“Your qualifications and reputation are on par with those justices who have sat in this seat before you,” Cornyn said. “You've earned the respect of those who have shared your views on the law, as well as those who do not … Folks with widely different judicial philosophies agree you are brilliant, respectable, kind and when you disagree, you do so without personal rancor or malice.”
“The Senate used to recognize that exceptional qualities were all that was required for a seat on the court,” Cornyn said, though he said he was “confident” she would be confirmed.