Source: United States Senator for Washington State Patty Murray
Washington State Standard: Thousands in WA at risk of losing food benefits under GOP bill in Congress
NEW: Estimates show Republican cuts would result in 16 million people losing health care — including over 300,000 people in WA state
***PHOTOS AND B-ROLL FROM EVENT HERE***
***FULL VIDEO OF PRESS CONFERENCE HERE***
Seattle, WA — Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, held a press conference laying out how Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill Act would be catastrophic for people across Washington state who rely on Medicaid, Affordable Care Act (ACA) health coverage, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Senator Murray was joined by health care providers and constituents in Washington state who stand to lose the health care and nutrition benefits they or their patients rely on under the legislation, which Republicans are seeking to pass through the reconciliation process—which requires only a simple majority of votes in each chamber of Congress. The legislation passed the House on May 22nd and is now being considered by the Senate.
“If Republicans pass this monstrosity into law, billionaires like Trump and Musk are going to make away like bandits while struggling families are going to have their entire world turned upside down. They are going to lose health care. They are going to lose food assistance. They are going to see costs go up and support they rely on go away,” Senator Murray said at the press conference today. “When it comes to health care, we are talking about 16 million people getting kicked off their insurance—from 8 million people Republicans will cut off from Medicaid with new paperwork, to 4 million who will lose ACA coverage due to Republican sabotage, to another 4 million who are going to lose coverage if Republicans refuse to extend tax cuts…In Washington state, this Republican disaster would take health care away from over 300,000 people minimum—200,000 from Medicaid alone…And again, I can’t emphasize enough: Republicans want to cut families off from SNAP and Medicaid—programs that give people a hand up in hard times—so they can give enormous hand outs to the richest people and biggest companies in the country. As someone who knows what it is like to have your family fall on hard times, as someone whose family relied on food stamps briefly, as someone whose parents used to say they ‘crawled’ to Medicare—you can bet I am going to fight like hell to make sure this bill goes nowhere except the trash bin. I know this won’t be an easy fight. But it is not an impossible fight, and it is absolutely an important one.”
In Washington state, 1.95 million people rely on Apple Health, Washington state’s Medicaid program, and over 300,000 Washingtonians access coverage through the state’s Affordable Care Act marketplace (Washington Healthplanfinder). New estimates released last week by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) found that Republicans’ legislation will kick 16 million people off their health insurance—between the drastic cuts to Medicaid and the sabotage of the Affordable Care Act and refusal to expand tax credits Democrats passed to lower health insurance premiums. The Joint Economic Committee estimates that at least 306,312 in Washington state would lose their health insurance under the Republican bill—that includes 198,050 people who would be kicked off Medicaid and 108,262 people who would lose their coverage under the Affordable Care Act. Among other things, Republicans’ bill would institute work reporting requirements for Medicaid, which have been proven not to increase employment and just strip health care coverage from people who are already working or exempt—this would put more than 620,000 Washingtonians at risk of losing their health care coverage or having it delayed. Fourteen rural hospitals in Washington state would be at risk of closure under the Republican bill, according to a recent analysis. The legislation would also “defund” Planned Parenthood, threatening the closure of up to 200 health centers across the country.
In addition, Republicans’ reconciliation bill includes sweeping cuts to SNAP that would force between $95 million and $477 million in new costs onto Washington state. 11 percent of Washington state residents rely on SNAP, and the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services estimated that more than 900,000 people across the state could their see SNAP benefits reduced or eliminated under Republicans’ bill.
“I work in the Urgent Care. Most ERs and Urgent Cares are bursting at the seams. If Medicaid is cut, more children will not be able to see a doctor for appropriate preventative care or timely care for illnesses and injuries. Those kids then come see me. They are sicker than they would have been. Asthma that could have been managed with a simple inhaler ends up with a child on oxygen in the intensive care unit. A mild infection that could have been treated with oral antibiotics becomes a major infection requiring hospitalization and IV treatment. This is costly, inefficient, and worst of all—completely avoidable,” said Dr. Lelach Rave, Interim Executive Director of the Washington Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. “Cuts to Medicaid also ripple across the system. Pediatric specialty departments are already closing in some hospitals. Waitlists are growing, and not just for Medicaid kids—for all children, regardless of insurance coverage. Rural areas are especially hard-hit, and once a service disappears, it’s incredibly difficult to bring it back. This isn’t just a policy debate. It’s about real children. Real families. Real consequences. Medicaid cuts are not abstract budget line items. They are barriers to care, obstacles to safety, and roadblocks to children growing up healthy and whole.”
“I am deeply concerned about the impact Medicaid cuts will have on our patients directly, and on the ability of our hospitals and clinics to continue to provide life-saving and life-changing care. Health insurance changes the lives of people every day. I have to believe that if national leaders supporting this bill could see what I see every day in the clinic and the hospital, they would move past the cruelty of these proposed cuts and prioritize the dignity and care that all humans deserve,” said Dr. Margaret Isaac, Medical Director of the Adult Medicine Clinic and Co-Site Director of the Internal Medicine Clerkship at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.
“My son has benefited exponentially from the support he has received through his Medicaid coverage. As conversations swell around cuts to Medicaid, my concerns swell for him,” said Sarah Brantley, the mother of a 34-year-old son, Paul—an avid sports fan and artist—who was born with developmental delays and on the autism spectrum, and relies on Medicaid for critical services. “Access to the features of this program have created opportunities for him to not only overcome intense medical and developmental challenges but, in fact, to thrive. He has found a sense of purpose and a place of pride in his community through supported employment opportunities and community inclusion. As his live-in provider, I am able to support his daily health, hygiene, and safety in his own home, thereby helping him prevent setbacks while preserving his dignity. His life has literally been saved by the interventions of Medicaid. Moreover, he has found community and empowerment in the journey. He has grown to have a sense of self pride and confidence I never dreamed possible for my son.”
“I am a Medicaid success story,” said MomsRising memberBronti Lemke, a single mom with a six-year-old son in Tacoma who is working toward her Bachelor’s degree. Medicaid and SNAP have been critical sources of support for her family as she pursues her education and works to build financial security for her family. “I was an addict and Medicaid – known as Apple Health here in Washington – provided the care, medications, and treatment that helped me get clean. Now, I am about to collect a degree from community college and I’ll be enrolling at UW, Tacoma this fall. Medicaid covered my son’s birth and we rely on it for preventive and routine care. I also rely on SNAP to feed my family, as food prices skyrocket. It terrifies me that Republicans in Congress are poised to slash these two programs and I don’t understand why anyone thinks more tax cuts for billionaires is more important than food and health care for families like mine. I want Congress to make child care more affordable, invest in schools, and continue supporting the health care and food we need.”
“It’s been really difficult to find a path out of homelessness. Not a lot of places will hire you without a degree, and the ones that will don’t pay enough to live on—and you can forget about health insurance. Because you’ve also got to think about the physical toll that 15 years of living outside takes on your body. About 2.5 years ago I was walking up a hill when I noticed that my calves were swelling. I didn’t think much of it at first but then my toes started to turn purple and eventually I was in so much pain I couldn’t walk. It got to the point that I thought I might not make it through this past winter—the cold made my legs a hundred times worse than before. It’s honestly hard to put that sort of pain into words. But I made it, thanks to my partner Brandie. All winter she gathered our wood, cooked all our meals, kept hand warmers on my feet. She got me to the other side of that winter. And she got me through that front door at the health clinic where I was finally able to get on Medicaid and get some care,” said Jeff Towle, a father, partner, and devoted Seahawks fan who is one of the nearly two million people in Washington state who relies on Medicaid for health care. “It was a very long time coming. And thank God for that, because it turns out I’d been walking a pretty high wire. I’d been living with deep vein thrombosis and an irregular heartbeat, two conditions that can kill, and I had no idea. It’s that simple: without Medicaid I’d be in a world of hurt. In fact I might not even be here today—in an apartment of my own, in this beautiful place that I love, finally starting to heal. Medicaid has helped give me another chance. The battle’s not over–I just had surgery on my legs yesterday, my second procedure, and my surgeon thinks there’s a good chance I’ll need another. They say I may have to stay on blood thinners for the rest of my life. And so having Medicaid is not a matter of convenience for me. It’s a matter of survival. That’s true for me, and it’s true for millions of other Americans who need this program. Don’t count us out.”
“I am opposed to the Medicaid cuts being considered in Congress, including the additional copays that are being discussed. I’ve relied on safety net programs since 2001 when I was a passenger in a car accident that injured my spinal cord and took me out of the workforce. I raised my three grandkids with my SSDI, since we lost my daughter, their mother Tiffany, who passed away in 2007 after losing her health care when she lost her job. Her story was the essential story in the passage of the Affordable Care Act from President Obama. Without Medicaid, we would not have been able to get the care we needed. I’m worried that if these cuts go through that my family and millions of other families like ours will lose access to their health care,” said Gina Owens, a member of Washington Community Action Network, and a single grandmother raising her three grandkids who all rely on Medicaid. “It deeply saddens me that my family and I have struggled to do the right thing for all of these years, only to have Congress tell us that we will need to pay higher copays out of our fixed income. A few dollars may not sound like much to the majority of people, but to many like me, it can be the difference between going hungry or having our electric bill cut off. I’ll call it like it is, cuts and increasing copays are robbing from the poor to give to the rich. Our country has so much wealth, there are enough resources for everyone to have their needs met.”
“Four years ago, I was able bodied working, had a full-time job. I was working for the federal government,” said Janelle Smith Dozier, who relies on SNAP and Social Security benefits to help make ends meet. “It was while at work where I got very dizzy and couldn’t hardly walk, couldn’t hardly think straight. I ended up going to the doctor and discovered I had a brain condition that required brain surgery. After the brain surgery, three months later, I had back surgery, and a year later, had another back surgery. So, I went from working full time, to becoming medically retired in my fifties and not knowing what to do. I had to not only get medically retired from work, I had to apply for disability through Social Security. All of these are foreign and new to me. I didn’t even know how they work because I was in my fifties and never thought I would be at that point. So, I ended up having to apply for food stamps. And to be honest with you, pride got in the way, and I didn’t want to do it, because I was always an able-bodied person who could take care of myself and my family. I ended up getting food stamps, and my Social Security hadn’t kicked in, so I was basically living off of $500 no income… Now I’m in a position almost four years later, and my Social Security and my benefits have kicked in. I’m still making less than $20,000 compared to almost $60,000, so it’s a huge, huge gap. The food stamps have always helped me. They have helped me and my family actually. The food bank has helped me with the space between getting the food stamps and my food supply running out, like three [weeks] into the month. Without the food stamps, I would have to dip into my Social Security and my retirement, which is pretty much tied up into taking care of myself outside of food, which would leave me with hardly no money to live on. Food stamps have helped me survive. They have helped my family survive.”
Senator Murray’s full remarks, as delivered at today’s press conference, are below and HERE:
“Well, good morning and welcome, and thank you to everyone that is here for this really important opportunity to talk about what is happening, coming at us from the President and the Republican Congress that is going to impact absolutely everybody.
“We’re going to see more people who are sick, more people who are starving, or tax breaks for the wealthiest people in the country. That is what the Republican agenda is.
“That is heart of the Big Ugly Betrayal they are moving heaven and earth to pass into law. And that is exactly what we are here to raise the alarm.
“We’re hearing a lot of empty Republican lies about their bill right now, a lot of desperate spin. That’s because the reality is catastrophic.
“If Republicans pass this monstrosity into law, billionaires like Trump and Musk are going to make away like bandits, while struggling families are going to have their entire world turned upside down. They are going to lose health care. They are going to lose food assistance. They are going to see costs go up and support they rely on go away.
“When it comes to health care, we are talking about 16 million people getting kicked off their insurance. From eight million people Republicans will cut off from Medicaid with new paperwork and red tape, to four million who will lose ACA coverage due to Republican sabotage, to another four million who are going to lose coverage if Republicans refuse to extend health care tax credits.
“That’s right. Republicans will do whatever it takes to extend tax cuts for big corporations and the richest of the rich. They will kick folks off their health care, shut down rural hospitals, take food off families’ tables—right off kids’ plates—you name it.
“But when it comes to health care tax credits Democrats passed for everyday Americans, when it comes to extending relief that is saving millions of families thousands of dollars a year? Crickets. Republicans simply can’t be bothered.
“In Washington state, this Republican disaster would take health care away from over 300,000 people minimum—200,000 from Medicaid alone. And yet, the Republicans whose constituents have the most to lose here—the people representing the areas most reliant on Medicaid, representing the people who are going to be hit the hardest, are full steam ahead on this! I hope everyone will ask them why, because I can’t figure out for the life of me.
“Voting for this bill is voting to kick seniors out of nursing homes. It is voting to shut down hospitals in rural areas. It is voting to take coverage away from kids with disabilities.
“But Republicans aren’t content to leave families without health care—they want them to go without food!
“Their Big Ugly Betrayal would make the biggest cut to SNAP in history—we’re talking around a quarter of a trillion dollars cut over the next ten years. It should be obvious, but that would be devastating for our country.
“From saddling states with unprecedented costs, to saddling families with even more red tape—the outcome is going to be less families getting SNAP benefits, and more kids going hungry.
“In Washington state alone, Republicans’ bill would put 150,000 people across our state at risk of losing food benefits. And the new red tape is even targeted at some of our most vulnerable families, because it expands work requirements to apply to seniors and parents with kids in school. That’s who Republicans want to take food away from.
“And again, I can’t emphasize enough: Republicans want to cut families off from SNAP and Medicaid—programs that give people a hand up in hard times—so they can give enormous handouts to the richest people and biggest companies in the country.
“As someone who knows what it is like to have your family fall on hard times, as someone whose family relied on food stamps briefly, as someone whose parents used to say they ‘crawled’ to Medicare—you can bet I am going to fight like hell to make sure this bill goes nowhere—except the trash bin.
“I know this won’t be an easy fight. But it is not an impossible fight, and it is absolutely an important one.
‘Because we saw what happened in 2017, when Republicans tried to rip away health care, when they tried to throw basic support for families into the wood chipper. The American people stood up. They shared their stories. They said, we do not want this. And their voices were heard. That effort failed.
“And I am going to do my darnedest to make our voices heard once again. I am going to make sure every Republican considering this bill cannot get off the hook trying to ignore exactly what they are voting for, and who they are voting against.
“And, to that end, I am joined today by some people who know, personally, from their work, and from their own experience—just how important these programs are, and just how catastrophic Republicans’ Big Ugly Betrayal would be.”