Senators Jeff Merkley (OR), Tammy Baldwin (WI), Chris Van Hollen (MD), Maggie Hassan (NH), Raphael Warnock (GA), and Peter Welch (VT) Also Joined
Washington, D.C. – Yesterday, Senators Chuck Schumer (NY), Ron Wyden (OR), Jeff Merkley (OR), Tammy Baldwin (WI), Chris Van Hollen (MD), Maggie Hassan (NH), Raphael Warnock (GA), and Peter Welch (VT) joined health care advocates, Protect Our Care and SEIU for a virtual rally to underscore the importance of Medicaid across the country. Right now, President Trump and his Republican allies in Congress are working to kick millions of children, seniors, and people with disabilities off their Medicaid coverage and spike the cost of health care for the middle class, all to line the pockets of billionaires and large corporations with tax breaks.
“Everything Donald Trump and the Republican Party does these days has one goal: tax cuts for the richest of America, but they have to find a way to fund them,” said Senator Chuck Schumer. “$880 billion in cuts is unfathomable and would be the largest health care cuts in American history. But Democrats are united in the fight to protect Medicaid. It is our number one priority.”
“Republicans know what they’re doing is unpopular,” said Senator Ron Wyden. “That’s why they’re canceling town hall meetings or using gimmicky messaging to dodge tough questions. They’re hiding what they’re doing behind the curtain. Our job is to put Republicans on notice and communicate the harm that these cuts will produce. It is unconscionable to consider cuts for kids and seniors and people with disabilities to finance a tax cut that will disproportionately benefit the people at the top.”
“The Republican plan is very straightforward: families lose and billionaires win,” said Senator Jeff Merkley. “Health care should be a right, not a privilege of a job that has benefits, and that’s why we created the Medicaid program to begin with. Republicans need to take Medicaid off the table for the health and welfare of so many millions of Americans – a third of Americans who want to be able to be healthy, stand on their feet, thrive, and have their families thrive.”
“Republicans are coming after your health care so that the ultra-wealthy will never have to pay their fair share,” said Senator Tammy Baldwin. “We’re talking about Americans who rely on Medicaid for life-saving care, children who need Medicaid to see a doctor, rural hospitals that would have to close their doors, and we’re talking about people like my own mother. My mother relied on Medicaid towards the end of her life to help pay for skilled nursing care, and she was just like six out of every 10 residents in nursing homes who do count on Medicaid to make sure that they can get the care that they need.”
“What we’re witnessing in real-time is the great betrayal,” said Senator Chris Van Hollen. “Donald Trump, on the campaign trail, said he was going to focus on lowering prices and costs for Americans around the country. What he is cutting is not prices, but health programs that are important to Americans across the country in order to pay for and finance tax cuts for the very wealthy.”
“President Trump and Congressional Republicans are pushing a budget that would pay for tax breaks for billionaires at the expense of the people on Medicaid,” said Senator Maggie Hassan. “If they are successful, it’s going to be devastating to our people, communities, and economy. Medicaid is essential for people to get the health care they need and participate fully in their communities and in the workplace. If this budget passes, it will be the end of Medicaid as we know it.”
“A budget is a moral document – show me your budget, and I’ll show you your priorities,” said Senator Raphael Warnock. “The Republican budget gives tax cuts to the wealthiest of the wealthy at the expense of struggling, hard-working families. I think it’s wrong that in the richest country on Earth, we don’t want to lower the cost of health care for hard-working people.”
“Republicans are willing to just follow the party line because that’s what Trump is demanding,” said Senator Peter Welch. “And of course what he is demanding is that we’ve got to cut the taxes for the billionaire class. The way they’re going to pay for it is to eviscerate the health care that is so essential to the well-being of people. This is a level of cruelty that I’ve never seen.”
“Medicaid saved my family and is the reason that my daughter is thriving,” said Elena Hung, Executive Director and Co-Founder, Little Lobbyists. “There’s not a single thing that I would change about my daughter, but there are a million things that I would change about this world so that it would be worthy of her, and the first thing that I would change is to ensure that all children have the health care that they need to survive and thrive. We can do that by protecting Medicaid, fighting tooth and nail, to defend it.”
“There is no way to get to the scale of cuts proposed without taking away essential care that Medicaid provides for millions of families at every stage of life,” said Jaimie Worker, Director of Public Policy, Caring Across Generations. “Every proposal to cut, cap, or make other harmful changes to Medicaid is a threat to the health and well-being of our communities. Medicaid is not a piggy bank.”
“I fell in love with giving our most vulnerable, forgotten-about groups their independence, freedoms, and dignity that they could not have without home care back to them,” said Jessica Bolmer, home care worker and member of SEIU Healthcare Illinois. “The Republicans in Congress who want to cut Medicaid are not on the front lines with us, seeing the magic that Medicaid does every day. If we’re going to be talking about making changes to Medicaid, we need to be talking about expansion, not cuts. Medicaid changes lives and Medicaid saves lives.”
“We’re here because Republicans in Congress want to slash Medicaid,” said Brad Woodhouse, President, Protect Our Care. “They have to cut spending so that they can provide tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans in this country. That’s what they’re trying to do and that’s what we’re going to stop. If we fight like hell, we will protect Medicaid for this generation and generations to come.”