In the Past Three Days, McConnell Has:
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Admitted Republicans Will Gut Medicare and Medicaid to Bankroll Tax Breaks for the Wealthy
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Admitted Republicans Will Return to Health Care Repeal After the Election
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Admitted The Republicans’ Position is There’s “Nothing Wrong” with Trump-GOP Lawsuit to End Pre-existing Conditions Protections & Overturn ACA
Washington, DC – In response to Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell defending the Trump-GOP lawsuit to end protections for pre-existing conditions and overturn the Affordable Care Act today, Brad Woodhouse, executive director of Protect Our Care, released the following statement:
“Mitch McConnell, keep talking.”
MITCH MCCONNELL AND HIS REPUBLICAN ALLIES HAVE SUPPORTED THE LAWSUIT TO END PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS PROTECTIONS IN NUMEROUS AND IRREFUTABLE WAYS
- When Congress could not succeed in repealing the Affordable Care Act, Republican state attorneys general and governors from 20 states filed a lawsuit in the U.S. Northern District of Texas to overturn the Affordable Care Act in its entirety
- The Trump Administration took the extraordinary step of announcing it would not defend the Affordable Care Act and actually agreed in part with the plaintiffs, arguing that protections for people with pre-existing conditions should be overturned
- Senators and House members refused to support Democratic Resolutions that would allow their chambers to defend pre-existing condition protections in court.
MITCH MCCONNELL IS ONLY THE LATEST REPUBLICAN LEADER TO ADMIT THAT REPUBLICANS WILL COME AFTER HEALTH CARE AFTER THE ELECTION. IN THEIR OWN WORDS:
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell: “If We Had The Votes To Completely Start Over, We’d Do It.” “If we had the votes to completely start over, we’d do it. But that depends on what happens in a couple weeks… We’re not satisfied with the way Obamacare is working.” [Reuters, 10/17/18]
President Trump Reiterates That Republicans Will Go After Repeal Again If Elections Go Their Way. “You know, we want to repeal and replace it, and if we get enough Republicans, we will.” [Washington Post, 9/24/18]
Vice President Pence: ‘We Made An Effort To Fully Repeal And Replace Obamacare And We’ll Continue, With Leah Vukmir In The Senate.” “We made an effort to fully repeal and replace Obamacare and we’ll continue, with Leah Vukmir in the Senate, we’ll continue to go back to that.” [The Hill, 8/31/18]
Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI): Maintaining Majority In Senate Means Republicans Will “Be Able To Pass Health Care Reform.” “I think the election will have to determine that because, based upon our vote count in the Senate. We keep the House majority in the house, which I think we will, and then you have to have enough of a majority in the Senate to be able to pass heath care reform.” [Roll Call, 9/12/18]
House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA): “If We Get More Senate Seats, Which I Think We Will, We’ve Got To Go Back To Health Care.” “‘We’ve got to hold the House, but if we get more Senate seats, which I think we will, we’ve got to go back to health care. Obamacare’s only getting worse. There is no private marketplace for families out there,’ House Majority Whip Steve Scalise.” [Fox Business, 9/12/18]
Senior Senate GOP Aide: Senate Would “Absolutely” Vote Again To Repeal ACA. “A senior Senate GOP aide said the chamber would ‘absolutely’ vote again to repeal ObamaCare but cautioned it would depend on ‘if we keep the House.’” [The Hill, 8/29/18]
Sen. David Perdue (R-GA): On Repealing The ACA, “I’d Love To Have Somebody Take Care Of That.” “‘I’d love to have somebody to take care of that,’ Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.) said of repealing ObamaCare.” [The Hill, 8/29/18]
Sen. John Thune (R-SD): It Would Be Nice To Have Members Who Will Help Us Repeal The ACA. “‘If we re-engage in that discussion in some point in the future, it would be nice to have members who enable us to pass it,’ Senate Republican Conference Chairman John Thune (S.D.) said when asked about the possibility of ObamaCare repeal legislation coming up for a future vote.” [The Hill, 8/29/18]
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI): Hopes Next Senator From Arizona Is “Strong Ally” Who Recognizes “Obamacare Is Not A Proper Solution.” [The Hill, 8/29/18]
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK): If Republicans Expand Senate Majority, Another Repeal Vote Is Likely. “I suppose that it’s all in the numbers, and if you had a significant enough shift in the Senate and you came up with a replacement that really did generate a level of support, yep.” [Axios, 8/6/18]
Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL): If Republicans Win In November, Republicans Could Repeal Health Care. “Republicans could repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act next year if the GOP holds onto its majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Saks, told a crowd in Anniston on Tuesday. ‘Assuming this fall turns out as some of us hope it does, and we pick up a majority in the House, we’re also going to pick up two or three seats in the Senate,’ Rogers said.” [The Anniston Star, 8/15/18]
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC): “With 53 Members We Can Get Health Care Done.” [Politico, 7/31/18]
“Repeal Is Like Fight Club, First Rule Is Not To Talk About It.” “Repeal is like fight club,” one GOP operative told Axios’ Caitlin Owens. “First rule is not to talk about it.” [Axios, 8/6/18]
HERE ARE SOME OF THE OTHER REPUBLICANS PLEDGING TO SLASH HEALTH CARE TO PAY FOR THEIR TAX CUTS FOR THE WEALTHY:
- On Tuesday, Mitch McConnell Blamed Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security for the massive increase in the debt, calling for cuts. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell blamed “bipartisan reluctance” to reform federal entitlement programs for the rising federal deficit, which the Treasury Department said Monday reached $779 billion in 2018. “There’s been a bipartisan reluctance to tackle entitlement changes because of the popularity of those programs,” McConnell told Bloomberg News. “Hopefully at some point here, we’ll get serious about this.”
- Last month, Larry Kudlow, Director of the National Economic Council, confirmed that he has his sights on cutting Medicare. Asked when programs like Social Security and Medicare will be looked at for reforms, Kudlow replied, “Everyone will look at that — probably next year.”
- Paul Ryan on Medicare: “It’s the biggest entitlement we’ve got to reform.” Paul Ryan, December 6, 2017: “We’re going to have to get back next year at entitlement reform, which is how you tackle the debt and the deficit…Frankly, it’s the health care entitlements that are the big drivers of our debt, so we spend more time on the health care entitlements…In- think the president is understanding that choice and competition works everywhere in health care, especially in Medicare…This has been my big thing for many, many years. I think it’s the biggest entitlement we’ve got to reform.”
- President Trump and Congressional Republicans are targeting Medicare and Medicaid to pay for tax cuts for the wealthiest. Last December, President Trump signed a $1.5 trillion tax bill that disproportionately benefits the wealthy. How do Republicans plan on paying for it? Speaker Ryan’s answer is clear: “Frankly, it’s the health care entitlements that are the big drivers of our debt.” In an attempt to pay for these tax cuts, in April, House Republicans passed a budget amendment that would slash Medicare funding by $537 billion over the next decade.
- Congressional Republicans proposed these cuts after passing a budget resolution last year that cut Medicare by $473 billion. The 2018 budget resolution passed by Republicans in December 2017 cut Medicare by $473 billion.
- Congressional Republicans Voted to Slash An Additional $1.3 Trillion From Medicaid and other Health Care Programs. The 2018 budget resolution passed by Republicans in December 2017 cut non-Medicare health programs, most notably Medicaid, by $1.3 trillion, a 20 percent cut over the course of 10 years, increasing to a 29.3 percent cut by 2027.