Donald Trump

Kimmel Ramps Up Battle Against GOP Proposal, ‘the Worst Health Care Bill Yet'

Sen. Bill Cassidy had remarked that Kimmel doesn't understand the bill

Jimmy Kimmel used his late-night platform to continue his assault on the GOP health care bill, firing back at critics including U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy and "Fox & Friends" co-host Brian Kilmeade.

The ABC star on Wednesday was following up on his monologue from Tuesday, when he said the bill Cassidy is co-sponsoring in failed the "Jimmy Kimmel test," a phrase Cassidy coined in May after Kimmel announced his newborn son underwent heart surgery for a birth defect.

The Louisiana Republican said Wednesday that Kimmel doesn't understand the bill. He told NBC News that the bill does indeed pass the "Kimmel test," and that he couldn't help the comedian's personal attacks.

"If you're in Texas or if you're in Maine and Virginia, Missouri, there'll be resources in your state that you've not had to provide you coverage," Cassidy said when asked about Kimmel's criticism.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., the bill's other co-sponsor, said it was inappopriate for Kimmel to attack the bill without discussing it with the senators who proposed it.

And President Donald Trump weighed in as well, saying in a tweet late Wednesday night that Cassidy is "a class act who really cares about people" who "doesn't lie."

But Kimmel mocked Cassidy's claim that he doesn't understand the bill, calling it "the worst health care bill yet." He named more than a dozen medical associations and groups who oppose it.

"When Sen. Cassidy was on my show in May, he told me that he believes every American family, regardless of income, should be able to get quality healthcare," Kimmel said. "Sadly, the bill he unveiled last week ... indicates that he was not sincere."

After Kilmeade labeled Kimmel as a "Hollywood elite" pushing politics, Kimmel called Kilmeade "a phony little creep" who Kimmel says previously asked him to write a blurb for his book.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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