Welch Puts Spotlight on Vermont, West Virginia, and Tennessee in Remarks
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.) last night took to the Senate floor to call on Congress to kill Republicans’ disastrous budget bill, which will rip away health care coverage for more than 16 million Americans, including 32,000 Vermonters.
The Republican budget will hike health care costs, close rural hospitals, and force millions of middle-class families to lose their coverage altogether, all to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy. In addition to draconian Medicaid cuts, Republicans are raising premiums and out-of-pocket costs for tens of millions of people who buy health insurance coverage on their own. Senator Welch highlighted that the Republican bill will impact red and blue states alike: 76,000 West Virginians and 290,000 Tennesseans would lose health care under the legislation.
“What’s happening in this bill is the infliction of bipartisan suffering. Whether it’s 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,” said Senator Welch. “We’ve got to protect the people first. We take away their hospitals, they have no protection…There’s a cruelty in this bill. There’s an irresponsibility in the Senate if we don’t acknowledge explicitly what the impact of this bill will be on the people we represent, on the hospitals that are dependent on us, and on the future of community strength in all of our rural communities. Let’s kill this bill.”
Watch Senator Welch’s speech below:
Read Senator Welch’s remarks as delivered here.
Senator Welch has been a leading voice in calling to protect Medicaid and health care in the Senate. Earlier this month, Senator Welch took to the Senate floor to slam Republicans’ tax bill, and joined Planned Parenthood of Northern New England (PPNNE) for a virtual roundtable highlighting the harmful consequences of Republicans’ reconciliation bill for patients in Vermont.
Learn more about Senator Welch’s work by visiting his website or by following him on social media.
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