Pelosi Remarks at Press Conference on Protecting Medicaid, Fighting Trumpcare
Washington, D.C. – House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi joined Senator Chris Van Hollen, Representative Jamie Raskin, Members of the House Democratic Caucus, SEIU Leaders and other Labor Groups for a press conference protecting Medicaid and fighting against Republicans’ ‘mean’ and heartless Trumpcare. Below are the Leader’s Remarks:
Leader Pelosi. Good Afternoon, everyone! I’m happy to be there at this Speak Out to join SEIU, and thank you SEIU for your great leadership, and other friends of labor who are here today.
I’m honored to follow Senator Chris Van Hollen and associate myself with his very distinguished remarks. Not the part where he’s praising me but the rest of it about what happens with their bill. It is so bad, it’s an abomination. The House bill was an abomination, the Senate bill is even worse, it’s an abomination squared. Squared.
Yesterday, Congressman Raskin and I – who’s here right now – and other members, had the opportunity to visit Children’s National Hospital and we met with families who would be so hurt by what they want to do to Medicaid.
With Nolan an 18 month old child – the love in these families in caring for these children with complex diagnoses and so many challenges. These are people who have jobs, who work and have health care in the private sector. But for one of those families even with their health care – health care paid $500,000 for their health care but several thousand dollars more was needed for their health care costs of these children.
Medicaid covered that. Without Medicaid they’re telling us that their children’s lives would not be sustainable. Even though with all the laws and the care and the unselfishness, we met Nolan 18 months old, every possible challenge can imagine in the loving arms of his family who was caring for him.
We met Kamila, she had the same story, her father is a successful man, has private insurance, but still depends on Medicaid for the costs over and above. We know about families who completely depend on Medicaid for all of the coverage for their children.
We met with Claire, a little girl who had many challenges, in the loving arms of her family and her mother spoke at the press event at the press event that we had, and Marta [Conner] spoke about her daughter Caroline.
But we have stories over and over one from a mom who said, ‘Medicaid has co-parented her child.’ Because without Medicaid there would be no way her family could meet the needs of that child – quadriplegic – all of the things – born with birth defects.
I talk about Zoe [Lihn] all the time. Born with a heart defect, a congenital heart problem. Had her first major heart operation at age 15 hours. By the time she was just a baby, she had gone through half of her lifetime limit and by the time she was ready for her preschool, all of her lifetime limits. Without the Affordable Care Act, what would the family do? With the Affordable Care Act, she has a beautiful life and future and the fact that she has a preexisting condition no longer stands in the way of her healthcare.
So, the stories of the children, everybody’s heart breaks when a child is sick in any way, with a cold or anything, with a scratch, with a bruise from a fall or anything. But these children, with these challenges… for us, for this Congress to take this away. I just close because you know the policy. You know the Affordable Care Act has done great things for our country. As we have said over and over, we extend a hand of friendship to listen to ideas to make it better. We can start by them funding it as the law requires right now.
As I said yesterday, how can these Senators and Republican Members of Congress look in the eyes of these children and say, ‘you’re not worth it because we have to give a tax break to the richest people in our country and corporate America as well.’ Shame on them. How can they look at themselves in the mirror and not feel shame for the indecency of it all?
The biggest transfer of wealth in the history of our country from working families. Robin Hood in reverse. From working families in our country, those in the middle class, and those who aspire to it, take hundreds and hundreds of billions, billions of dollars in order to give tax breaks to the high end at the expense of the health of America’s children.
Every one of those children, all the ones you know about in communities across America, they are America’s children. America has a responsibility to them.
So, thank you. Thank you. Thank you for not having battle fatigue. Thank you for being in this fight. Thank you for recognizing that yesterday was progress but the fight is not over and we will never stop fighting until we expand the number of people who have healthcare in our country. Thank you.