Welch slams Trump for taking a “sledgehammer” to Vermonters’ health care 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.), a member of the Senate Finance Committee, spoke on the Senate Floor Wednesday evening and slammed President Trump and Republicans’ cruel budget which would slash Medicaid and increase health care costs for millions of seniors, children, veterans, people with disabilities, and people with chronic diseases like cancer in order to give tax handouts to the ultra-wealthy.  

“It’s really a problem everywhere, but I think in rural communities it’s even more severe. Because we’ve got rural hospitals, and we’ve got rural community health centers, that play a major role in rural life. They’re all on thin ice financially. They have overworked staff, but who are committed to the people in that community. And the only reimbursement they get is through Medicaid. And, as we all know, the Medicaid reimbursement is much lower than Medicare and it’s certainly way lower than private insurance. But they pull it together and somehow keep the lights on, keep the doors open, and provide the health care that the folks in that community need…. 

“I want to save money, but I want to save money by stopping the rip-offs. I don’t want to save money by dumping people who make $21,000 a year off of the health care that they absolutely need. And that’s what Musk is doing. That’s what Trump is doing. That is wrong, and we have to stop it. We have to stand up for the hardworking people of West Virginia. The hardworking people of New Hampshire. The hardworking people of Wisconsin. And the hardworking people of Vermont. So, no—we have got to say ‘No’ and acknowledge the rip off that Donald Trump is trying to inflict on hardworking people in our states so that he can pay for the tax cuts for his billionaire friends,” said Senator Welch. 

Watch Senator Welch’s speech below: 

Key quotes from Senator Welch’s speech: 

“But a lot of folks making $20,782—there’s no no way they can afford health care. There’s no way. And that’s another absolute requirement: that each of us level with one another. Let’s not pretend that there’s some fictional health care out there that a person who’s working 40 hours a week making $10.39 an hour can pay for health care. It doesn’t exist.  

“And the major responsibility that we have is to make certain that we have a health care system where people who work hard, who love their kids, who have an elderly parent, can have some security that the health care they need, they’ll get…. 

“[President Trump is] taking a sledgehammer to it. And he’s taking a sledgehammer that’s cutting off folks in West Virginia, folks in Vermont, who are working hard, who struggle every week to pay their bills, and who could get some peace of mind that the child that they love, that the grandparent that they’re caring for, can have decency and access to health care or a nursing home. 

“It is an absolute disgrace that there is any discussion—that there’s any discussion—that we would be taking that away. Shame on Trump. Shame. On. Trump.”  

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On Wednesday, Senator Welch joined Senate Finance Committee Democrats for a press conference on Capitol Hill to highlight how drastic cuts to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act (ACA) included in Republicans’ Trump-endorsed budget blueprint would kick tens of millions of people off of their health coverage and increase costs for the more than 100 million people across the country who rely on these programs.  
 

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