Political Quotes

“I also rise to talk about the healthcare proposal on the floor, and I thank my colleague from Oregon and all my colleagues who have taken the floor on this issue. I will just state at the top a punch line: I will vote for any healthcare bill that meets President Trump's promises. He said that in his replacement, no one would lose coverage, no one would pay more, no one would get kicked around because of a preexisting condition, and he wouldn't cut Medicaid. And any bill that meets those criteria, I am voting for, but I won't vote for a bill that shatters all those promises, and that is what this current proposal does. There is a lot to talk about with the bill, and I just want to talk about one thing--the proposed cuts to the Medicaid Program and especially the effect of those cuts on children. In the current Senate proposal, which is being sort of adjusted and modified, there is a slashing of Medicaid by about $770 billion over 10 years. And if you add to that additional cuts to Medicaid proposed by the President's budget, we are now north of $1 trillion of cuts to Medicaid in the next 10 years. Who receives Medicaid? In Virginia, between 50 and 60 percent of those who receive Medicaid are children. In Virginia, 600,000 young people are Medicaid recipients. If you go to school and you are receiving an individualized education plan because you have a designated disability, Medicaid is paying for it.…”