[W]ASHINGTON — One day after Sen. Bernie Sanders released legislation to create a Medicare-for-all health care system, Republicans in Washington unleashed a wave of attacks.

In two posts on Twitter Thursday afternoon, President Trump decried Sanders’ proposal as “a curse” on the country and promised to veto it.

With 16 cosponsors, the bill has more support than Sanders’ universal health care proposals have garnered in the past, but it still is a long way from the president’s desk. In order to get Trump’s veto, the legislation would first need to pass the GOP-led House and Senate.

Sanders, an independent, fired back at the president, arguing that offering universal health care coverage is “exactly what we should be doing.”

He alluded to Republican-led efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. Some of those replacement plans were projected to result in a dramatic decrease in the number of people who have health insurance.

Also on Thursday, Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wy., who has repeatedly criticized Sanders’ proposal in recent days, wrote to the Congressional Budget Office to request a review of the bill.

The non-partisan office assesses the potential costs of legislation.

“I am deeply concerned that Senator Sanders’ Medicare-for-All legislation is not only a government takeover of health care, but would also put financial burdens on the American people that they cannot sustain,” he wrote.

Sanders did not provide an estimate of the costs of switching to his single-payer model, nor did he include a funding mechanism with his plan — though he did offer a six-page document with overviews of several different funding ideas.

Sanders staff did not reply to a request for comment on Barrasso’s letter Thursday afternoon.

The bill Sanders unveiled Wednesday would implement the single-payer system over the course of four years. By the fourth year, all United States residents would get a “Universal Medicare card” that would entitle them to health care services.

The plan would fully cover virtually all services without any out-of-pocket expense to the patient, from hospital trips to mental health and substance abuse treatment to regular doctor visits. The package would also cover vision and dental services. The only out-of-pocket costs would be for some prescription drugs, which, a bill summary explains, would be to encourage use of low-cost generics.

Two senators behind a renewed effort to repeal Obamacare and replace it with a block grant system took swings at “Berniecare.”

Sens. Bill Cassidy, R-La., and Lindsey Graham, R-SC, pitched their proposal as one that would put health care decisions in the control of state level leaders, while Sanders’ model would consolidate power over the system in Washington, D.C.

“If we don’t stop this now, single payer health care is the fate of the nation,” Graham said.

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Twitter: @emhew. Elizabeth Hewitt is the Sunday editor for VTDigger. She grew up in central Vermont and holds a graduate degree in magazine journalism from New York University.