On the recordMarch 17, 2017
Here are the facts: the Affordable Care Act covered over 20 million Americans. The House Republicans' bill will strip 24 million people of their health care. I have received thousands of calls, emails, and social media messages regarding this topic from constituents opposing a repeal and sharing their stories of how the Affordable Care Act has helped them and how terrified they are of losing their coverage. I would like to share just one of those stories. Daria from Redlands wrote to me about how Medi-Cal, California's Medicaid program, is called a lifeline in her family. Daria, who suffers from a debilitating and rare disease, closed her letter by saying: ``There are tens of millions more like me. American citizens, Moms and dads. Working hard, struggling with illness. Loving our families through hardship and disease. All of us-- these tens of millions of American families, would be absolutely devastated by the loss of our insurance coverage.'' Mr. Speaker, what would you say to Daria about your plan that would cut Medicaid and raise the cost of insurance on families like hers while giving tax breaks to the uberwealthy? Instead of working with Democrats to improve the bill, Republicans drafted it in secret, rushed it through committee in the dead of night, and are now ramming it through Congress. This plan is bad for the middle class. ____________________
