Washington, DC – Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, released the following statement on Republican Leader Mitch McConnell’s decision to delay a vote on Senate Republicans’ bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act:
“Republicans are right to have cold feet. They’ve been warned, over and over again, how ‘mean’ it is to take away coverage from millions of Americans just to hand millionaires and billionaires enormous tax cuts they don’t even need. They’ve been warned this bill would crush Medicaid, which covers everyone from seniors to children to people with disabilities, tearing holes in state budgets in the process. They’ve been warned it would lead to massive increases in the cost of coverage for older Americans, and that it would strip away vital care for women. They’ve been warned it would rob Americans fighting opioid addiction of treatment they need to walk the long road of recovery. This bill would be a disaster for Rhode Islanders and Americans everywhere.
“Rhode Islanders are calling and emailing my office non-stop about this bill and 98 percent of those calls and emails are against it. Doctors, patients, seniors, and every major health organization tell us this bill is mean and that the Senate should scrap it. It will still be mean in two weeks.
“Once Republicans are ready to come to the table, I will work with them to build on the gains we’ve achieved through the Affordable Care Act. In the meantime, we need to keep up the fight until this wretched bill is in the dumpster where it belongs.”
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