LEADER JEFFRIES: "WE ARE WITNESSING AN ALL-OUT REPUBLICAN ASSAULT ON THE HEALTHCARE OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE"
Today, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries held a press conference with Democratic leadership, where he emphasized that House Democrats have returned to Washington to reopen the government while combating the Republican healthcare crisis.
LEADER JEFFRIES: This is day 15 of the Trump Republican shutdown, and House Republicans remain on vacation, having canceled all three consecutive weeks. House Democrats are here on duty, ready, willing and able to do what's necessary to reach a bipartisan agreement that actually meets the needs of the American people, reopen the government and address the Republican healthcare crisis that is crushing people all across the country. House Democrats have repeatedly made clear, as have Senate Democrats, that we will not support a partisan Republican spending bill that continues to gut the healthcare of the American people.
We are here to address the serious needs of everyday Americans that have repeatedly been undermined throughout this year by Donald Trump and compliant Republicans in the House and the Senate. The Republican healthcare crisis is very real. The largest cut to Medicaid in American history. Hospitals, nursing homes and community-based health centers are closing all across the country as a result of what Republicans have done in their One Big Ugly Bill.
The fact that Republicans continue to refuse to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits means that tens of millions of Americans are about to experience dramatically increased premiums, copays and deductibles that may double, triple or quadruple, meaning many will pay thousands of dollars more per year, which will make their healthcare unaffordable. Republicans have also set in motion a $536 billion cut to Medicare that will occur at the end of the year if Congress doesn't act because of toxic provisions in their One Big Ugly Bill. Medical research has effectively been halted in the United States of America, and Republicans are proposing dramatic cuts to the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health.
We are witnessing an all-out Republican assault on the healthcare of the American people. It's unacceptable, it's unconscionable and it's un-American. And that's why Democrats are standing up and fighting to decisively address this crisis that our Republican colleagues continue to visit on the American people.
Full press conference can be watched here.