Peter Welch: “there is time to kill this bill, and I hope we do. You know, as my colleague from Hawaii just said, what is happening in…”

“there is time to kill this bill, and I hope we do. You know, as my colleague from Hawaii just said, what is happening in this bill is the infliction of bipartisan suffering, whether it is in the State of Vermont or the State of West Virginia or the State of Tennessee. Folks who are depending on Medicaid are going to lose it. Let me just give a couple of examples. When I was in the House, my good friend David McKinley, a Republican, invited me to West Virginia, and we went to the Harrison coal mine. I was very deeply moved because the only people I know who work as hard as coal miners are dairy farmers. So we have a lot in common--hard-working folks in Vermont, hard-working folks in West Virginia. But what this bill is going to do is threaten the access to healthcare that those West Virginia folks need, just like those folks in Vermont need, just like those folks in Tennessee need. It is not about whether you are a Republican or a Democrat. It is not about whether you are from a red or blue State. It is actually about real people who work in coal mines, who work on dairy farms, who work in factories, and seniors who need the help of nursing homes. Two out of three nursing home beds are paid for by Medicaid. Parents of disabled children so depend on healthcare, especially through Medicaid. And that is true in West Virginia. It is true in Nebraska. It is true in Tennessee. It is just as it is in Vermont.”