Republican Budget Betrayal

Floor Speech

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Ms. RANDALL. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman, Mr. Carbajal, for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I come before you today to tell a very personal family story that motivated my interest to serve my community here in Congress and that continues to motivate me to think about the impacts on families all across my district and all across the country.

When I was 7 years old, my sister, Olivia, was born with microcephaly. What that means is that her brain was small, and the doctors didn't know why. They didn't know if she would live, how long she would live, and what her life would look like.

I grew up in a family of public servants, a bipartisan family, a biracial family, and my dad, who was a civilian employee for the Department of Defense, had pretty good government employee insurance, but that insurance wouldn't have covered all of the surgeries, specialists, and the equipment that Olivia needed to thrive.

However, gratefully for our family, the Washington State legislature in 1993 voted to expand Medicaid. Washington was one of the first States in the country to lead that charge. For us that meant that we didn't have to worry about losing our house or what other bills that we could pay so that Olivia could survive and thrive. It meant that she could get multiple wheelchairs and use equipment like inflatable vests that kept her from getting pneumonia more than five times a year. She was able to go to public school and live for 19 years with our family.

For me, I learned that government could be a safety net for families like mine. So for the last 6 years in the Washington State legislature I worked hard to expand healthcare access for folks all across the State and all across my big rural district where hospitals are already struggling because Medicaid reimbursement rates are low, where small clinics and independent providers are shuttering their doors because they cannot afford to stay open.

So, Mr. Speaker, if you have a family with a disabled kid like my sister and you live in Neah Bay in the farthest northwest corner of the lower 48 States, then you have to drive hours and sometimes wait for a ferry that could be 2 hours delayed in order to get to a specialist in Seattle to get your kid lifesaving care.

What will happen if this budget resolution becomes reality and if $1 trillion is cut from Medicare programs is that we will see potentially per-capita caps. What that means is that we will decide how much the lives of children like my sister are worth. How much will we be willing to pay for the equipment and the specialists and the surgery to keep medically fragile kids alive?

It will mean that folks without disabilities, seniors and low-income children, and folks with private insurance will struggle to afford healthcare in communities like mine and communities across the country.

We are facing a real crisis in our healthcare sector already. We should not be adding to it by cutting $1 trillion from poor people and people with disabilities, from children, and from seniors who are often dual eligible for Medicare and Medicaid who are able to live in dignity until the end of their days because of this important program. It will keep long-term care programs open if we are able to maintain Medicaid funding.

I am scared. I am scared for my constituents. I am scared for my neighbors. I am scared for the healthcare providers who are just trying to do their jobs. I am also scared for the impact that we will see for years into the future if this budget resolution becomes law, if we deliver trillions of dollars of cuts for families who depend on Medicaid.

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