RICHMOND, Va. - The Democratic Party of Virginia today called out Congressman Tom Garrett for his dismissal of people whose lives were saved by Obamacare as people who did not vote for him.

When asked this morning by MSNBC's Stephanie Ruhle how he would respond to people who said the Affordable Care Act had saved their lives, Garrett said, “none of those people did vote for me.”

Furthermore, in the same interview, Garrett admitted that he had not read the bill prior to today’s anticipated vote to dismantle the ACA.

“Congressman Garrett’s dismissive response to people whose lives were saved by Obamacare is callous and cruel,” said DPVA spokeswoman Katie Baker. “We are talking about Virginian lives, American lives - not just those of people who live in his district or who cast their ballots for him. We are saddened by Congressman Garrett’s cold disregard for what repeal of the ACA will mean for all Virginians.”

The relevant portions of the interview are transcribed below:

RUHLE: Have you read the whole bill?

GARRETT: Oh, gosh. Let’s put it this way: people in my office have read all the parts of the bill. I don’t think any individual has read the whole bill, but that’s why we have staff.

[…]

RUHLE: People in the State of Virginia, they voted for you not your staff and there were protesters there who said Obamacare saved their life. What do you say to that?

GARRETT: I would wager based on the locality that that particular event occurred in, I wasn’t there, that none of those people did vote for me.

The clip can be viewed on the Democratic Party of Virginia's Facebook page.

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