Walz Statement on GOP Health Care Bill Vote

Statement

Today, U.S. Representative Tim Walz (MN-01) released the following statement after voting against the Republicans' American Health Care Act on the House Floor:

"Instead of improving the parts of our health care system where folks are falling through the cracks, the Republican bill I opposed today does the exact opposite. It raises out-of-pocket costs for hard-working Minnesota families, strips folks with pre-existing conditions of protections, guts Essential Health Benefits, makes draconian cuts to Medicaid, rips health care away from 24 million of our fellow Americans, and pulls billions of dollars from Medicare to provide tax cuts for pharmaceutical companies, large corporations, and America's wealthiest citizens. As if these repercussions aren't catastrophic enough, this fatally flawed bill has the potential to deny up to 7 million veterans of tax credits they use to seek affordable health care.

"This Republican bill, which Speaker Ryan rushed to a vote without holding any hearings and without an updated CBO score to show millions of Americans just how much their pocket books and wellbeing will suffer, is downright cruel. House Republicans who supported it should be ashamed of themselves for abandoning our farmers, small business owners, working-class families, rural Americans, seniors, single parents, folks with disabilities and children.

"It's not too late for congressional Republicans to abandon their disastrous efforts to tear down our health care system. It's not too late for Speaker Ryan to invite Democrats to work together toward improving our health care system for the American people. However, the longer my Republican colleagues take to welcome Democrats to the table, the longer hard-working Minnesotans struggling to afford high costs on the individual market will be denied federal relief.

"It's time for Republicans in Congress to wake up from their partisan slumber and put their constituents and all Americans first. It's time for Speaker Ryan to work with Democrats to ensure every single American has access to affordable, high-quality health care. I remain committed to working in a bipartisan manner to advance health care reforms that make sense for southern Minnesotans."

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