DPCC Co-Chair Cartwright: Democrats are Fighting for Health Care for the American People
WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Matt Cartwright, Co-Chair of the House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee (DPCC), appeared on Velshi & Ruhle on MSNBC today to discuss Attorney General William Barr's testimony. Congressman Cartwright questioned the Attorney General on the Trump Administration's continued assault on the Affordable Care Act. Republicans are willing to drive the health care system off a cliff with no plan for replacing it, while Democrats are fighting to lower health costs and prescription drug prices for the people. Below are excerpts from the interview. Click here to watch the video
"If you want to take a head count of who all is interested in which issue, I can think of 130 million Americans with pre-existing conditions who are pretty interested in the Justice Department throwing its full weight behind this effort to invalidate the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in the federal courts. That's what I was asking the Attorney General about. And in some measure I was happy with his response, and in another measure, I was not."
"There is no other answer. That is exactly what the truth is. That they're pushing it off until after the next election because they don't have a plan and they can't imagine what their plan would be. What I did ask the Attorney General to do is to commit to if they win this lawsuit, if they prevail and invalidate the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in the federal courts, even if it goes to the Supreme Court of the United States, if they prevail in that position, will he commit to asking for a stay of the effect of that ruling until they get a replacement plan in place that provides all of the protections that the ACA has right now?"
"Look, my position is clear: I want as many people to be covered as humanly possible. I want them covered in a way that the premiums are affordable. And that we can bring the United States to the place where we're not shoveling all of our money down to this health care hole that's costing so much money, with only mediocre results. Let's fix the health care. Let's continue to press forward with covering more people, and making that coverage more affordable, and bringing down the high, skyrocketing costs of pharmaceutical medications."
"Their top priorities are taking care of their families, putting food on the table, making sure their kids have a chance to get ahead in life in America, all of these things go together. I call them the kitchen table issues, and one of them is always, always health care."