WASHINGTON, June 22 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) issued the following statement Thursday after Senate Republicans released a draft of their health care bill:

“For weeks, Republicans have been drafting their ‘health care’ bill in secret, refusing to hold hearings or public debate. Now we know why. The bill Republicans announced today is even worse than expected and by far the most harmful piece of legislation I have seen in my lifetime. This bill has nothing to do with health care. It has everything to do with an enormous transfer of wealth from working people to the richest Americans.

“Republicans want to throw millions of Americans off of health insurance – including thousands of Vermonters – slash Medicaid, defund Planned Parenthood and substantially increase premiums on older Americans. Meanwhile, their bill would provide over $200 billion in tax breaks to the top 2 percent and hundreds of billions more to the big drug and insurance companies that are ripping off the American people.

“Our job now is to rally millions of Americans against this disastrous bill to make sure that it does not pass the Senate. Instead of throwing tens of millions of Americans off of health insurance, we must guarantee health care as a right to every American.”