WASHINGTON, Sept. 18 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) issued the following statement Monday after the Congressional Budget Office said it will not have estimates of the impact of a Republican health care bill on insurance coverage or premiums in an assessment it plans to release early next week:

“Today, we were informed by the Congressional Budget Office that it will take several weeks for them to estimate the impact that the Graham-Cassidy legislation would have on the American people.

“In other words, the CBO won’t be able to estimate how many Americans will lose their health insurance, how much premiums for older Americans will go up or how much the deficit will increase each year. Given this reality, and the lack of knowledge that Senators will have about the impact this legislation will have on one-sixth of the American economy, it would be beyond comprehension for the Republicans to proceed with this bill until we have that information.”