Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) hurled criticism at the Koch brothers on Wednesday, saying the billionaires are "about as un-American as anyone I can imagine."
“It’s too bad that they are trying to buy America. And it’s time that the American people spoke out against this terrible dishonesty of these two brothers, who are about as un-American as anyone that I can imagine," Reid said on the Senate floor.
Watch Reid's comments above.
That was the second time Wednesday Reid took aim at the Koch brothers and their anti-Obamacare ads. Earlier, he accused the billionaire brothers of spreading "horror stories" about the health care law.
Reid blasted ads by Americans for Prosperity, a political advocacy group backed by David and Charles Koch. The ads feature patients discussing insurance cancellations and costs.
"Those tales turned out to be just that: tales, stories made up from whole cloth, lies distorted by the Republicans to grab headlines forming political advertisements," Reid said.
The Nevada Democrat in particular denounced a television ad featuring a leukemia patient who said she would die without medication and blamed the cancellation of her previous policy. Another ad showed a woman who said her policy costs rose $700 a month.
Koch Industries Inc, the brothers' oil and gas conglomerate, fired back in a statement saying the Kochs were not responsible for the ad by Americans for Prosperity and calling Reid's remarks "disgraceful."
Reid's Twitter account also posted a series of criticisms:
UPDATE -- 5:37 p.m.: The Koch-backed group Americans for Prosperity responded to Reid's comments in a statement from the group's president, Tim Phillips:
Senator Harry Reid stood on the Senate floor today and attacked the character and integrity of every American who had the courage to share how they’re being hurt by the President’s health care law – some of whom are battling serious, life-threatening illnesses.
As the bad news about ObamaCare continues to pile up, the Democrats are trying to divert attention away from the law’s many failures by declaring war on its victims. Instead of admitting that the health care law is a bad deal for Americans, Senator Reid has chosen to attack the brave men and women who are sharing their personal stories about ObamaCare.
The President’s allies are perfectly fine with brushing these horror stories under the rug -- but that’s not so easy for people like Julie Boonstra in Michigan and Emilie Lamb in Tennessee, who are being forced by people like Senator Reid to live out the consequences of ObamaCare every single day.
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