Congressional Republicans poised to make devastating cuts to Medicaid, jeopardizing care for children, elderly, and rural communities
In Washington state, approx. 1.8 million people are enrolled in Medicaid
***VIDEO HERE***
Washington, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), a senior member and former Chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, joined SenatorsTammy Baldwin (D-WI), Peter Welch (D-VT), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), and Raphael Warnock (D-GA) for a press conference to lay out the dire consequences of Congressional Republicans’ looming cuts to Medicaid to pay for tax breaks for billionaires. Last week, Republicans unveiled budget plans that set up deep cuts to Medicaid, threatening to shut down rural hospitals and rip away health care from tens of millions of Americans, including seniors and kids.
Medicaid is the largest health insurance program in the country, providing health care coverage to more than 70 million Americans, and the consequences of any cuts to Medicaid would touch nearly every household in America. Medicaid covers 1 in 5 people living in the United States, including nearly half of all children, 31.5 million, and over 8 million seniors. Cuts to the program would mean ripping away health care from millions of families who count on it— including over 12 million rural Americans, as cuts would jeopardize rural hospitals and clinics’ ability to keep their doors open.
“Republicans have made clear they will not hesitate to bleed health care programs dry, if it means that they can shower more tax cuts on billionaires and big corporations,” said Senator Murray. “The cold hard reality is that if Republicans are going to cut this deeply and painfully to extend tax cuts for billionaires—they will have to cut things like veterans’ health care, Medicare, and Medicaid. Every time Republicans have tried this—including in Trump’s first term—the American people have made extremely clear: don’t sabotage our health care, and don’t jack up our costs. So, Republicans may be charging down this same dangerous path once again—and once again, Democrats are not going to be silent, and nor will the American people.”
Last month when Senate Republicans released their blueprint for a budget reconciliation bill, Senator Murray blasted it as “a precursor to Republicans giving massive tax cuts to billionaires while blowing up the deficit and grinding services Americans depend on—like Medicaid and SNAP—down to the bone.” At last week’s Budget Committee mark up of Republicans’ budget resolution, Murray—a senior member and former Chair of the Senate Budget Committee—laid out how their resolution is a roadmap to devastating cuts to programs from Medicaid to veterans benefits, and during the markup, Murray put forward six amendments to steer Republicans toward a bipartisan approach to spending, affirm Congress’ power of the purse, reverse massive arbitrary cuts to NIH, deliver transparency into the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), and more. Republicans unanimously opposed every amendment Murray and other Democrats offered.
Senator Murray’s full remarks from today’s press conference are below and video is HERE:
“Well, from mass firing public health experts, to freezing funding for our community health centers, to slashing medical research, to ending support to enroll people in health coverage, to putting a vaccine skeptic in charge of the nation’s Health Care Department—Trump is already doing massive damage to health care in America. Massive.
“But Senate Republicans are clearly determined not to be outdone—this week, they are gearing up for phase one of their plan to sell out the health care of working families in order to give tax breaks to billionaires.
“It’s bad enough that they are ignoring the health care cliff coming this year—because remember, right now, we have millions of people, saving thousands of dollars a year on health care because of the tax credits that Democrats passed.
“Have Republicans said a peep about extending that aid with their own signature bill? Of course not. They are perfectly content to let help for working families expire and let health care costs skyrocket.
“But the second a multi-billionaire like Elon Musk is at risk of losing a cent in tax breaks, Republicans, apparently, will move heaven and earth. That’s bad enough—truly. But it gets worse.
“Because the Republican plan isn’t just to let support families need expire—the plan is to cut off their health care. Republicans have made clear they will not hesitate to bleed health care programs dry, if it means that they can shower more tax cuts on billionaires and big corporations.
“House Republicans have already spoken openly about their interest in cutting health care—they have left no doubt Medicaid is on the chopping block.
“Meanwhile, the Senate budget resolution calls for cutting $1 trillion this year alone—and $9 trillion over ten years.
“Where are those cuts going to come from? If billionaires are getting the benefit, we need to ask: who is paying the cost?
“Every day Americans are going to pay—in shuttered community health centers. They are going to pay the cost in canceled clinical trials. They are going to pay with less access to birth control, and cancer screenings, and weaker public health departments.
“And that is just the start—they are also going to pay when millions of families with the tightest budgets have health care ripped away from them.
“The cold hard reality is that if Republicans are going to cut this deeply and painfully to extend tax cuts for billionaires—they will have to cut things like veteran’s health care, Medicare, and Medicaid.
“Every time Republicans have tried this—including in Trump’s first term—the American people have made extremely clear: don’t sabotage our health care, and don’t jack up our costs.
“So, Republicans may be charging down this same dangerous path once again—and once again, Democrats are not going to be silent and nor will the American people. We will stand up, we will fight tooth and nail to protect the health care that families rely on.”
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