7.16.26 House Democrats and Protect Our Care Press Conference

Thank you for joining us, we're going to get started, sorry for the delay, as I was talking to Chair Aguilar just now, it is the dysfunction of Republicans that resulted in the delay of this press conference, but we're going to get started. My name is, I'm going to not talk as long as I was, it's hot and this was delayed and people have places to be. My name is Brad Whithouse, I'm President of Protect Our Care, we're thankful for you all you being here today. We're here today to kick off a national campaign called Sick of It, Fix Healthcare Now, and Sick of It is about what Donald Trump and Republicans have done to American healthcare. They took a wrecking ball to it a year ago, a week ago, they passed a bill that cut a trillion dollars out of Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act, ripped away healthcare tax credits and they did it to provide tax breaks to billionaires and big corporations. They took care of Musk and Bezos and Zuckerberg and they took care of the Trump kids and themselves and they left Americans out to dry. And so we're going to go all across this country, beginning in August, accountability, we're going to do empty seat town halls in Republican districts, we're going to come to Democratic districts, September we're going to talk about what we would do to fix healthcare, and in October we got a 40 stop bus tour to tell the American people we're sick of what Republicans did, we're going to fix healthcare now, and you just try and stop us. With that I want to turn it over to Whip Clark. Thank you Brad, thanks to everyone at Protect Our Care for being here because we truly are sick of it. And here's what the Republican Party is about to find out, that when you screw with people's healthcare, when you go after their families, when you mess with their kids, there will be a price to pay. Republicans chose to make this the centerpiece of their agenda. They chose to cut Medicare, Medicaid, and the ACA. They chose to cut taxes for the billionaire class by taking health insurance away for millions of Americans, including their own voters, and in most cases, especially their own voters, because this isn't just about blue states. In my district, 23,000 people are losing their insurance under the big ugly law. But in Mike Johnson's district, it's nearly 40,000. And we are going to make sure that each and every one of those voters knows exactly who to blame for every hospital closure we're seeing across this country, for every illness that is going untreated, for every prescription that is going unfilled. And we're going to make sure people know it's because Republicans saw fit to spend their money on tax cuts for the Epstein class, instead of making sure that kids can go see a pediatrician, instead of making sure that cancer patients get the treatment they deserve. So thanks again to Brad Woodhouse to protect our care, to all our partners who are here, and especially my colleagues. We're going to make sure this attack on health care for working families does not go unpunished because the American people are sick of it. Thank you. Whip Clark! Now I'm going to introduce House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar. Thank you so much, Brad. Thank you to the Protect Our Care campaign, and we are truly sick of it. And I want to thank the DPCC and the storytellers and patient advocates who continue to shine a light on this urgent issue. In this last election, Americans entrusted Republicans with their votes because they believed that they would lower their costs. But for the last 18 months, we have seen that Republicans consistently put billionaires interests over the needs of hardworking Americans. Nowhere was that more evident than in their signature bill, the Big Ugly Law. The GOP handed tax breaks to the ultra-wealthy while whipping away benefits, health care, and food assistance to the people that need it most. This is not what the American people voted for. And now, one year later, families are experiencing that fallout. Working families can't afford to see a doctor when they're sick or to feed their kids when they're hungry. Hospitals, nursing homes, and clinics are closing their doors, and 8 million people have lost health care. Republicans used all the power that they had to reward the billionaires while their constituents went broke. House Republicans are so corrupt and so beholden to Trump and the elites that they've ignored every chance to undo this damage. Instead of restoring health care, they've given a blank check to ICE to terrorize our communities. And instead of lowering costs, they've made life harder and more expensive for everyone. Meanwhile, House Democrats have worked to ensure that families have the tools and the resources they need to succeed. The affordable health care crisis is upon us, and Democrats will do everything we can to make delivering on health care the heart of our mission. We're going to keep fighting to lower costs, fix the health care crisis, and stop Trump and Republicans from wasting tax dollars. Thank you so much, Brad. All right. Thank you. And now, DPCC co-chair Lauren Underwood. Well, thank you, Brad, and to everyone at Protect Our Care for bringing us together today and for their incredible, unrelenting advocacy for our health care. As a registered nurse and one of just a small group of health care professionals serving here in the United States Congress, it has been horrifying to watch this Republican health care crisis unfold. I have dedicated my whole life and my career to expanding and protecting families' access to affordable health care. So when I tell you that Donald Trump and the Republicans in this building behind us do not care about health care for working people, I mean it. And I say it with the weight of that experience. I know what happens in a community when the only clinic in a hundred miles is forced to close their doors. I know how health outcomes deteriorate when a patient is forced to put off their preventive care or ration their medicine because they cannot justify the cost. I know how our entire health care system suffers when you fire tens of thousands of dedicated health care professionals or when you price those professionals out of being able to further their expertise and their education. Donald Trump and the Republicans in Congress have created this health care crisis, and American families are suffering because of it. One year ago, they ripped a trillion dollars of federal funding out of our health care system to line the pockets of all those people who are at the front row of Donald Trump's inauguration. It was the biggest cut to health care in American history. And when you combine those cuts with the impacts of Republicans' refusal to extend the extremely popular tax credits from my Health Care Affordability Act at the end of last year, it really is no wonder why we have this disaster that we see today. It is completely unacceptable. But it doesn't have to be this way. It really doesn't. So, August recess begins at the end of next week, and I'm here to tell you that this will be anything but a break for House Democrats. In town halls and meetings all across the summer, in our communities, we are going to be making sure that our neighbors and the American people know that we have not and we will not be giving up on this fight. Because whether you live in urban America or rural America, in a Midwestern community like mine, or one of our great coastal cities, every single American family should have high quality, affordable health care. Our health care is a patriotic issue, and we're going to keep fighting. So thank you so much for being here today, and I'm delighted to turn it back over to Brad. All right. Thank you. And now, DPCC Co-Chair Lori Trahan. Great. Thank you. Thank you, Brad. Thank you to Protect Our Care. And to all of our storytellers here today, you are the reason why we fight. It's no secret that under the leadership of Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress, hardworking families across our country are paying thousands of dollars more for basic necessities, groceries, gas, utilities, health care. We are sick of it. In Massachusetts, families are paying an average of $4,100 more this year alone. And instead of standing up to a president who was personally pocketing billions of dollars from his time in office, Republicans doubled down. They passed the single largest cut to Americans' health care in our nation's history. They took away food from hungry children, all to pay for a tax cut for their billionaire friends. And the result? More than 8 million Americans have lost their coverage. Millions more have watched their premiums skyrocket. Growing up in Lowell, Massachusetts, my family didn't have much. I know what it means to be one medical bill away from a crisis. When a mom skips her prescription so her kids can eat. When the community hospital that delivered your children starts cutting services. Here's the truth. The money is there. Republicans found $200 billion for ICE. They found $70 billion for a war in Iran. That money could have extended the ACA tax credits and cut premiums in half for 20 million Americans. It's a question of priorities. And House Democrats' priority is you. We're going to fight for Americans' health care. And if you raise price on families, we're going to hold you accountable. Every family in America should be able to see a doctor. And we won't stop working until we get there. Thank you. Great. Thank you. And now House Energy and Commerce Ranking Member Frank Pallone. Thank you, Brad. And thank you to Protect Our Care for being out here today and for all the things you do to basically educate the public about what's going on in the grassroots that you do. I just want to be clear about one thing. We're in a crisis, and we all know that, right? We're sick of it. But at the same time, this was not an accident. This was a crisis, or is a crisis, of choice perpetrated by Donald Trump and the Republicans in Congress. And we've had a lot of discussion about the bill, the big ugly bill, as I call it. But they marked it up in the cover of night in the Energy and Commerce Committee, and they rushed it to the House floor. And that bill ripped more than a trillion dollars out of Americans' health care and let the Affordable Care Act tax credits expire. So now, one year later, we predicted that this crisis was going to occur because of the big ugly bill. And it's actually happened. We know millions of people have now lost their health coverage, premiums are skyrocketing, and deductibles are doubling. And over a thousand hospitals, you know, in my home state of New Jersey, I was shocked because I always assumed that if you had a hospital license in New Jersey, that you had to have a maternity ward. And a lot of the hospitals now in New Jersey are closing their maternity ward in a pediatric children's hospital section because it's not required with a hospital license, and they simply can't afford to maintain it anymore. So you can say, oh, I have a hospital, and many of them actually are closing down completely. But you have a hospital that doesn't have maternity care, doesn't have pediatric care. Really? That's a hospital? Not in my opinion. And that's what's happening. We're seeing these services cut all over the country, even if the hospital stays open. But the worst part of this is, and my colleagues have mentioned it, is that the Republicans did all this to pay for tax cuts for large corporations and for billionaires. And ultimately now we see Trump coming back and asking Congress for even more money, and possibly for the Iran war, right? So all the money that we saw that cut the health care created this crisis, and now in the middle of this he's coming back and asking for more money for the Iran war. If you look at the money that's been spent on the Iran war, you can see that after a few days or a few weeks, the amount of money that's being spent actually could pay not only for the Affordable Care Act's premium tax credit, but pay for it twice. So we're literally saying we're going to give these tax cuts to millionaires, we're going to give money to the war, and at the same time we're going to really hurt the average American in terms of the health care. That's the choice that the Republicans are making over and over again now, and I'm frankly sick of it. I know everyone is sick of it, and House Democrats are going to do whatever we can to address this crisis. We're going to fight. We're going to keep fighting in committee, on the House floor, as mentioned, in every district in the country over the summer to reverse these cuts and ultimately fix the health care system, because that's what Americans want and they should have. So thank you. Thank you, Brad. Let's hear it for Frank Pallone. Passed more health care legislation than anybody in the history of America. I want to thank our members who have been here, and you're excused, you can go take a cold shower. We're going to hear now from people who are on the front lines of this fight. I want to bring up Elena Hung with Little Lobbyists. Hello. Thank you, Brad. Thank you, ProtectorCare. Thank you everyone joining us. I'm here joining these amazing voices and being in solidarity with those fighting for health care. We are fighting for our lives and we are sick of it. I am Elena. I am Ziramar's mom. I am here on behalf of Little Lobbyists families like mine, raising amazing disabled children. So let's be clear about one thing. Kids like mine are alive today because of the Affordable Care Act and because of Medicaid. And we're here speaking out today because that is all under threat. Republicans have taken away ACA tax credits that help millions afford health care. They have cut nearly a trillion dollars to Medicaid, the largest cut in history, and we are sick of it. No family should be forced to choose between paying for rent or paying for life-saving medication. We're sick of it. No family should be forced to pay, choose to pay between paying for food and paying for a doctor's appointment, and we're sick of it. Health care costs are pushing families like mine to make impossible choices, and that is a policy failure, not a personal one, and we are sick of it. All right. Thank you. Now I want to call on Nora Walsh-DeVries with Planned Parenthood Action Fund. Good morning. If it's still morning, I'm Nora Walsh-DeVries, Vice President of Political and Legislative Affairs at the Planned Parenthood Action Fund. And more importantly, I'm here today because I, like you, am sick of it, and I'm sick of the Trump administration and its anti-abortion backers in Congress who are playing politics with our health care and making it more expensive and harder to get. Nearly 30 health centers have been forced to close across the country since President Trump and his backers in Congress defunded Planned Parenthood. These closures have hit every part of the country, but the hardest-hit areas were concentrated in communities where people already struggle to get basic care. Two-thirds of health centers shut down in rural areas, medically underserved areas, or areas lacking primary care professionals. Planned Parenthood organizations did everything possible to shield patients from the harmful effects of defunding, but the data from the past year shows that people simply could not get essential care. Stark drops in patient visits mean patients were cut off from the affordable sexual and reproductive services they need at Planned Parenthood health centers. Medicaid visits dropped by about 25%, or 250,000 visits compared to the same period during the same year. So bottom line? In the years since Planned Parenthood was defunded, patients faced more barriers, got less care, that will mean greater health risks in the future. But even with the evidence laid out for them, these same lawmakers still want to defund Planned Parenthood permanently and make it harder for everyone everywhere to get the care they need. As House Republicans push forward another party-line bill that fails to address the health care crisis they created, people need to know who is to blame for the harm our communities are experiencing. Planned Parenthood Action Fund is proud to join Protect Our Care and all of these leaders today to proclaim that we are sick of it and it's time to fix our health care now. All right, now Jamie Worker, Caring Across Generations. Good morning everyone, my name is Jamie Worker and I'm with Caring Across Generations. We are proud to stand with Protect Our Care, our champions in Congress, and partners across the country to launch Sick of It Fix Health Care Now. At Caring Across Generations, we work with family caregivers, care workers, aging and disabled people every day. And I can tell you, we are all sick of it. We're sick of watching the majority in Congress pass the largest Medicaid cut in history, not to fix anything, but to fund tax breaks for billionaires and big corporations. Medicaid is the backbone of care in this country, the only meaningful insurance that covers long-term care. It is how more than 8 million people get care at home and in their communities. It's how an older adult comes home after a stroke instead of into a facility. It's how a child with complex medical needs grows up at home with her parents instead of an institution. It's how 130 million family caregivers, 40% of adults in this country, get any backup at all. And it's how nearly 5 million direct care workers earn a living doing the work that makes all other work possible. These cuts land in a multitude of ways. When someone loses Medicaid, they lose the home care that keeps them out of an institution, providers already operating at thin margins close, and the worker providing care loses their job and often their own health care with it. This is not a personal failure, it is a policy choice, and what was chosen can be reversed. Reversing these cuts is the floor, not the ceiling. People want our lawmakers to strengthen Medicaid. They want the choice to age at home without waiting lists. And they want long-term care to be something that we can all count on without draining savings. That's what investing in care looks like. We will not be ignored, we're sick of it, and we're going to fix it. Thank you. All right. Athena Jones, SEIU. All right. Good afternoon, good evening. We are in the midst of a revolution, and I'm glad you are here for the beginning. My name is Athena Jones, and for more than 13 years I've been a home care worker. I am proud to be this chapter chair of SEIU Virginia 512. Home care is not just my job, it is a calling. Every day caregivers become someone's hands as they allow them to wake up. We become their voices when they are no longer able to speak. We become the opportunity for them to be able to live an existence that creates equity amongst a congregation of people that often are overlooked. Care is possible because of Medicaid. Yet today that promise is under attack. Congress has approved more than $1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid and Affordable Care Act, putting health care risk at 16 million Americans. How can we stand and say that we are great if we are allowing the most vulnerable to stand in the midst of these atrocities? But let me tell you, what is fraud? Fraud is telling families they can age in place, but take away the workforce. Fraud is calling care an expense, while the priceless value of independence and dignity is taken away. We march, we will fight, we will organize. Why? Because a nation where home care workers earn a living wage benefits all work. Where every person who lives with dignity is in place because they choose to live at home. Let history record that we choose courage over comfort. That we choose people over politics. That we choose care over cuts. This is why we are here, this is why we fight, and this is why we are not finished yet. Because no law can silence compassion, no budget can erase dignity, and no vote can stop a movement whose time has come. And that time is now. Woo! We signaled it! Shana Goodman, Community Catalyst! Woo! Thank you, Brad. Thank you, Protect Our Care. My name is Shana Goodman. I'm the Vice President of Policy and Government Affairs at Community Catalyst. We are a national health justice advocacy organization working with state and community groups around the country to create a health care system that is affordable, accessible, and accountable to all people. Our work in communities nationwide has surfaced the voices and stories of people who depend on Medicaid and the ACA to get healthy and stay healthy, programs now facing billions in cuts and burdensome new bureaucratic red tape. There are people like Amy in Pennsylvania, a 60-year-old full-time worker living paycheck to paycheck who just saw her monthly premium go from $92 a month to $370 a month. Or Susan in Illinois who told us about being a young single mother who because of the support of Medicaid and SNAP was able to finish her education, find a career, and purchase a home. Or Mona in Kansas who is currently recovering from a broken hip and would have lost her home without Medicaid. These are just a sliver of the countless stories we've heard from real people across the nation, people who depend on health insurance programs that are getting more expensive or simply out of reach by the day. They are the people that we and our network of partners here work tirelessly on behalf of every day, and we're honored to bring their voices to Washington and lend their power to this vital campaign. We know people out in communities are sick of the status quo. And we're counting on all of you to keep up the fight, not just to reverse the harms of recent policy changes, but to move us closer to the healthcare system that we need and deserve. Thank you. And now I want to introduce the great representative of Alabama, the co-convener of the House Democratic Healthcare Working Group, Terri Sewell. Hi everyone. We're hot as hell because we're sick of it. We are sick of it. I'm Congresswoman Terri Sewell. I proudly represent Alabama's 7th congressional district, and I'm a member of the Ways and Means Committee and co-convener of the House Democrats Healthcare Working Group. Yes. I want to thank Protect Our Care for organizing this campaign and for refusing to let Americans' frustrations with their healthcare system go unheard. The truth is Americans are sick of it. We are sick of paying more for less. We are sick of prescription drug costs going up and up and up and not going down. We are sick of premiums that have skyrocketed. We are sick of wondering whether one medical emergency could put our families into debt. And we are sick of Republicans gutting our healthcare system to give tax breaks to the wealthy and the well-connected. Americans are suffering through a healthcare crisis because Republicans have refused to do anything about it. I represent Alabama's 7th congressional district, one of the most medically underserved regions in America. In too many of our communities, families drive hours to see a doctor. Rural hospitals are fighting to keep their doors open, and too many people have to choose between filling a prescription or paying their bills. It's simply unacceptable, and we've had enough. Have we had enough? Yeah! We've had enough. We're sick of it. The answer, of course, is that we as Democrats will start day one with a healthcare agenda. Americans know that Republicans have failed them, and they're asking themselves if Democrats can deliver lower healthcare costs. The answer is unequivocally, yes. Yes, we can. As co-convener of the House Democrats' Cost of Living Healthcare Working Group, my focus is simple. We are laser-focused on ensuring that Democrats are ready to make healthcare costs more affordable for every American on day one. We are bringing together members from across this caucus to develop real solutions that lower premiums, protect Medicaid and Medicare, bring down prescription drug costs, and strengthen the hospitals and community health centers that our families depend upon. We are not waiting until after the election to figure things out. We are working hard now so that we are ready on day one, day two, day 100, and the end of this term. We are not waiting until after the election to figure this out. Healthcare is the number one cost-of-living issue facing Americans. We know that, you know that, and we're going to do something about it. If we are given the opportunity to govern, we as Democrats will not let you down. We know that the cost of living is too high for everything, but especially healthcare. We will build a healthcare system that finally puts affordability first and delivers lower costs for every American. And we can do it because we're hot as hell, mad as hell, and we're sick of it! We are sick of it, and we're going to do something about it. Thank you. Lord, Jesus Christ, I can't think of a better speaker to close us out. I want to thank everybody for coming. We had a delay because Republicans, they don't only screw up healthcare, they screw up votes, they screw up the floor, but we're here to say we are going to do this. You don't need me to remind you that when Democrats were in charge and we had the White House, we made great strides on healthcare. They came in, they took a wrecking ball to it, not because we had a big national emergency, not because the Russians invaded from Canada, they wanted to give tax breaks for the wealthy. And we're sick of it. We're going to fix healthcare now. We're taking Terri Sewell, we're going to put her on a bus, on a plane, on a helicopter, but sick of it. Fix healthcare now. It's coming to a town hall near you, it's coming to a bus stop near you, and we're not going to stop until we fix healthcare now. Thank you everybody. Great job. High five. Thank you all. Thank you. Thank you for sharing your stories. Absolutely. Thank you. Yeah, let's do it. Y'all want to hold your signs? Let's do a big group photo. Sure, yeah. Christina. Yeah, there we go. All right. Is this you? All right. I think.