Rep. Charlie Crist Tuesday ripped House Republicans for passing the American Health Care Act last week and said that he was waiting for Sen. Marco Rubio to return his telephone call on the legislation.
"The most appalling part of this bill, the most merciless part of the bill, is how it affects the poor and disabled in our country and throughout, obviously, Florida, too," Crist, a Democrat who once served as the state's Republican governor before becoming an independent, told Chris Jansing on MSNBC.
"It makes it such that $880 billion will be take away from the poor and the elderly for their healthcare and the disabled.
"To do that, you have to have a heart of stone," Crist said. "How does somebody do that and look themselves in the mirror and be satisfied with what they're seeing?
"It's just appalling and unconscionable to me."
Crist, like other House Democrats, did not vote for the AHCA last Thursday – and he said that he was calling senators in hopes that they would fashion a bill was more "palatable" to Democrats.
"What can be done is the right thing, just to be plain and simple about it," Crist said. "The right thing is to provide healthcare for the American people."
"What's Senator Rubio telling you, congressman?" Jansing asked.
"Nothing yet," Crist responded. "I'm looking forward to getting my call returned. In the meantime, I'll be patient, because it's a virtue."
In 2010, Crist and Rubio squared off over the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate in Florida, but Crist eventually dropped out and ran as an independent.
Rubio demolished him in the general election, 48.9-29.7 percent.
In 2012, Crist became a Democrat, ran unsuccessfully for governor two years later before being elected to the House last November.
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