Tillis Must Agree to Postpone Confirmation Hearings, Stop Rushing to Take Away NC'ians’ Health Care

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

October 5, 2020

Tillis Must Agree to Postpone Confirmation Hearings, Stop Rushing to Take Away North Carolinians’ Health Care

Immediate Hearings Unsafe After Republicans Recklessly Spread Coronavirus Around Washington

Raleigh, N.C. - After news broke over the weekend of a major coronavirus outbreak amongst the Trump administration and Senate Republicans, including at least two members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Thom Tillis must agree to postpone Supreme Court confirmation hearings until a time when the safety of all participants can be assured. The on-going outbreak also highlights the recklessness of rushing to install a Supreme Court Justice who would take away health care from millions of North Carolinians in the middle of a pandemic.

The outbreak has been linked to last Saturday’s Supreme Court nomination announcement at the White House. Many attendees, including Tillis, spent portions of the event indoors in close quarters and without masks. Because of the outbreak, Senate GOP leadership intends to halt all floor business until October 19th, but Republicans are attempting to push ahead with confirmation hearings.

“If Senator Tillis and his fellow Republicans are too reckless to follow basic, well-established safety protocols, then it is absolutely not safe to rush through these confirmation hearings in order to install a Supreme Court Justice who will strike down health care in the middle of a pandemic,” said Piedmont Rising Executive Director Casey Wilkinson. “Not only would hearings require the involvement of his fellow Judiciary Committee members, but they would also put large numbers of congressional staff at risk of exposure. Tillis must do the responsible thing and agree to postpone them until medical experts confirm that this outbreak is safely contained.”

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