FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

“Republicans Should Feel Ashamed” Indiana GOP Votes for Decimating Healthcare, Heinous Transfer of Wealth to Billionaires

In response to Indiana’s Republican U.S. House delegation unanimously voting to send Donald Trump’s devastating budget to the President’s desk, Indiana Democratic Party Chair Karen Tallian released the following statement:

“Indiana Republicans should feel ashamed. This bill is the worst piece of legislation to come out of Congress in decades, and is likely the biggest transfer of wealth from poor to rich that the US has ever seen.

“I served with several of these now members of Congress during my time in the Indiana General Assembly, and all of them at least pretended to have a moral compass. Now, they gleefully cheer as they trade the lives of the poor, the children and the elderly for yet another bullshit tax break for billionaires.  

“People will die. Hundreds of thousands of Hoosiers are now at risk because they will lose access to food and healthcare. Predictions are that millions around the rest of the world will die because of the stingy, miserly cut to USAID. All so that a few Republican mega donors could buy themselves another yacht.

Americans have always been generous, unselfish and compassionate. Apparently, our GOP legislators are not. I am disgusted.”

Earlier this week, Senate Republicans — including Indiana Senators Todd Young and Jim Banks — narrowly passed the Trump-backed budget, which extends the 2017 tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy while gutting Medicaid, food assistance, and funding for critical jobs programs.

The bill only passed by two votes, meaning a NO vote by any of Indiana’s members could have killed this bill. Rep. Erin Houchin was also the deciding vote to advance the bill out of House Rules Committee, 7-6 Wednesday morning.

Now, Indiana Republicans in the House — including Reps. Rudy Yakym, Erin Houchin, Jim Baird, Victoria Spartz, Larry Bucshon, Jefferson Shreve, and Marlin Stutzman — have joined them, voting to finalize a bill that:

• Slashes over $1 trillion from Medicaid, putting coverage for 650,000 Hoosiers on HIP 2.0 at risk.

• Eliminates health coverage for 220,000 Hoosiers, mostly due to cuts to Medicaid expansion, and ending certain subsidies through the Affordable Care Act.

• Puts 11 rural Indiana hospitals at immediate risk of closing, including facilities in Rensselaer, Portland, Sullivan, Washington, Bremen, Winchester, North Vernon, Brazil, Salem, Decatur, and Corydon.

• Forces 615,000 Hoosiers to face the loss of food assistance. This is on top of the elimination of the SUN Bucks program, costing 600,000 Hoosier children $70 million in meal dollars.

• Threatens 5,000 clean energy jobs in Indiana, and 1.75 million construction jobs nationwide.

• Raises energy costs and adds $3.25 trillion to the national debt.

This budget is the most regressive in 40 years, shifting wealth from the poorest to the richest Americans:

• The poorest 20% will lose 3.8% of their income, while the wealthiest 20% gain 3.7%.

• Cuts $1.3 trillion from food and health programs to fund tax breaks of the same amount for the ultra-rich.

The Indiana Democratic Party is committed to fighting for every Hoosier abandoned by this budget — and making sure voters know exactly who turned their backs on them.

• ● Recent polling shows that an overwhelming majority of Americans reject Trump’s plan to rip away health care from working families.
  • Even Republicans oppose it by a nearly 3-to-1 margin once they learn what’s in it.

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