OLYMPIA, Wash. – Washington State Senator Patty Murray, who voted “no” in the that passed President Donald Trump’s big bill of tax breaks and spending cuts, released a statement calling the bill a “monstrosity.”
In the title of the release, Murray called it the “Big, Ugly Bill to Rip Away Health Care, Nutrition, Abortion Access from WA State Families & Balloon National Debt to Fund Tax Cuts for Billionaires.”
In her statement, she claimed that, for people in Washington, the bill will result in 328,695 people losing healthcare, 900,000 people seeing reduced or eliminated SNAP benefits and 14 rural hospitals becoming at risk of closure.
The estimate of 328,695 people that would lose health insurance is based off of an estimate from the Joint Economic Committee.
The estimate of 900,000 people seeing reduced or eliminated SNAP benefits is cited from a study published by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. The study points out that 11% of Washingtonians rely on SNAP.
The fourteen hospitals that would be at risk of closure come from a study from the Office of Senator Edward J. Markey from Massachusetts, which was cited in a letter on rural hospitals.
She also added that 620,000 Washingtonians might be at risk of losing their health coverage or having it delayed, citing a study from Washington Apple Health (Medicaid).
Murray had put forward an amendment to the bill which would have removed a section that would prohibit the use of federal funding for abortion providers, family planning services, reproductive health or related medical care.
Her amendment was voted down 51-49.
In her release, Murray said that the Republican-proposed bill would cut more than $900 billion from Medicaid, which she said was $100 billion more than the proposed House bill. She explained that this means about 17 million Americans would lose their health care, citing the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
She also claimed that more than 300 rural hospitals and over 500 nursing homes could close because of the legislation.
“This fight is not over—this bill is not yet law and I am not going to stop raising my voice and making sure the American people know exactly what is in it. Communities in Eastern and Central Washington will be among the hardest hit by these gigantic cuts to Medicaid and SNAP—now is the time to raise your voices and tell your Republican Members of Congress to vote NO. Republicans in the House need to listen to the American people and abandon this disaster of a bill,” she wrote in the release.
