Rep. Barragán Raises Alarm Over GOP Plan to Cut Health Care for Millions

Washington, D.C. – After a 26-hour markup last week, House Republicans on the energy and commerce committee May 17 advanced their piece of Donald Trump’s budget reconciliation plan — with no Democratic votes. The bill slashes $715 billion from Medicaid and other critical health care programs — combined with the provisions passed by the Ways & Means Committee this week and a proposed regulation from the Trump Administration, 13.7 million Americans now stand to lose their health care.  

“This bill is nothing short of an assault on the health care of working families, children, seniors, and people with disabilities,” said Rep. Barragán. “The Republican reconciliation bill, along with the actions of the Trump Administration and Republicans’ failure to extend the Affordable Care Act subsidies, will cause almost 14 million people to lose their health care. Republicans forced us to debate this bill in the dead of night, when they knew most Americans would not see their attempt to take health care away from millions of people. House Democrats will continue to fight this bill and make sure all Americans know that these painful cuts to essential services and programs are so that Republicans can give even larger tax breaks to their billionaire donors.”

Throughout the marathon markup, Rep. Barragán and Democratic committee members introduced amendments to reverse, blunt, or improve upon the harms of the bill, which Republicans, as a whole, rejected. This bill will now be combined with the Republican reconciliation bills that have passed out of other House committees for full House consideration.

The approved bill text includes harmful provisions that will: 

Make it harder for people to enroll and keep their health coverage:

Burdensome new paperwork for Medicaid enrollees, designed to reduce access — not improve care.

Barriers to enrolling and renewing coverage for people on Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

Shortened enrollment period for Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace coverage, reducing time to sign up.

Make it more expensive to access care:

New copays for Medicaid recipients.

New fees and documentation requirements for people seeking ACA subsidies.

Barriers to programs that help low-income seniors on both Medicare and Medicaid afford health care.

Decrease access to high-quality, affordable care for hospitals, community health centers, nursing homes, and at-home services:

Delays implementation of nursing home minimum staffing standards, putting elderly residents at risk.

Restricts states’ use of provider taxes, which support payments to health care providers and expansion of covered services.  

Cuts federal Medicaid support for states that use their own funds to cover undocumented immigrants.

Beyond health care, the bill also includes sweeping attacks on environmental protections, clean energy investments, and telecommunications infrastructure:

Guts clean energy and environmental investments — including pollution reduction programs in schools and low-income communities.

Lets fossil fuel companies pay to bypass safeguards, including a $1 million fee to fast-track LNG exports and $10 million to expedite pipeline permitting.

Raises $88 billion through a spectrum auction and diverts those funds to tax cuts for billionaires, rather than investments in internet affordability and NextGen 911.

The legislation now moves to the House floor, where it will be considered as part of the broader Republican budget reconciliation package.