WASHINGTON, DC - Mary Kay Henry, President of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) issued the following statement in response to the defeat of a procedural vote in the U.S. Senate aimed at taking away the benefits of the Affordable Care Act:

"The question today's vote raises is why did Republicans choose to side with insurance companies when they could be standing up for working families?

"It's time to stop playing politics with people's health. By wasting time forcing a vote to take away the benefits of the Affordable Care Act, Minority Leader McConnell has shown once again that his party does not understand the challenges faced by America's working families.

"Rather than focusing on creating jobs for the more than 30 million Americans out of work, Congressional Republicans proposed to take away coverage from the 32 million Americans who would gain it under the healthcare law, deny 44 million seniors free preventive care, leave 1.2 million young adults under age 26 without health insurance, and burden 4 million small businesses with higher taxes.

"We need to get America back to work, not waste time on legislation that would not create one single job and would endanger the physical and financial health of millions of hardworking Americans."