Democratic Proposals

Floor Speech

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Ms. JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from California (Mr. Garamendi) for hosting this Special Order hour on this very important topic.

Last night, 217 Republicans voted to gut Texas Medicaid, raise costs, and take away healthcare from over 100,000 of my constituents, including over 80,000 children and over 12,000 seniors just in my district.

I love my State. There are so many great things about Texas, but unfortunately, we are number one in some of the worst ways.

Texas leads the Nation in the number of people without health insurance--for children and adults. We lead the Nation in maternal mortality, having the highest number of mothers die during childbirth. We lead the Nation in infant mortality.

Over 4.8 million Texans currently rely on Medicaid, over 16 percent of our State. These are not just statistics to gloss over, but they are children, moms, seniors, and our loved ones in nursing homes.

The Republican-endorsed cuts will exacerbate Texas' healthcare crisis, creating irresponsible, political-based policy instead of collaborating for real solutions.

In addition to the loss of healthcare access, many of those still with coverage will see their costs skyrocket.

Under the Republican budget they voted for just last night, the average premium for 103,000 people who receive coverage under the Affordable Care Act in my district will increase by 69 percent. Let me say that again. Their premiums will increase by 69 percent because of what the Republicans have done in this budget.

Many families would face even steeper consequences. In Texas-32, a 60-year-old couple with a household income of $85,000 would see their health insurance premiums increase by $13,000 a year. That is a 181 percent increase in just 1 year. Families cannot afford that.

Mr. Speaker, I am all for cutting waste and finding fraud and abuse, but taking away healthcare and making it unaffordable for the people of Texas is not the way to do it.

Texas Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security programs must be protected. They represent our commitment to the American people that their government will be there to help them when they are at their most vulnerable.

The fact is that these cuts will mean life-altering changes for families across America and will lead to nursing homes being closed, doctors refusing to care for patients, healthcare claims being denied, and more debt and increased costs on the backs of families who are already struggling to make ends meet.

I will ask this question to my Republican colleagues: Are you ready to take in your aging parents to care for them when your local nursing homes close? Are you ready to move your dining room table out and bring in a hospital bed because there is not a long-term care facility to take care of them?

We have already lost 27 rural hospitals in Texas because of a lack of adequate Medicaid funding. It takes some people in our State 3 to 4 hours just to get to a cardiologist after they have a heart attack--and do you know what? They are dead.

This has real consequences for people when we don't have adequate healthcare. This should not be a partisan issue. It doesn't matter if you are a Republican or Democrat. When your mom is sick, you want them to have healthcare. When your baby breaks their arm, you want them to have healthcare. This is a universal human issue, and it is irresponsible what the Republicans have done in this budget.

I am proud to stand with my Democratic colleagues as we fight against these devastating cuts, and I encourage my Republican colleagues to join us because their constituents want healthcare, too. Everyone does.

Mr. Speaker, I am committed to finding ways to improve healthcare and make it more reliable and affordable. That is what Texas families want. That is what the American people want.
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Ms. JOHNSON of Texas. Sure. I am Julie Johnson. I represent Texas-32. I am from Dallas, Texas.

It is an urban district with a lot of suburban areas. We have access to great hospital care there. However, we still have healthcare deserts. We have people who can't afford health insurance at the current skyrocketing prices that they are. We have very high housing costs. We have people with very high student loan debt.

If you are a 32-year-old trying to live the American Dream and trying to buy your first house or afford your student loan, you can't do it all.

Do you know what the minimum wage is in Texas? $7.75 an hour. You are trying to do the best you can. You are working at the grocery store, doing things that make our economy run, working in retail, but you are making $7.75 an hour.

You can't afford health insurance that costs you $24,000 a year when you don't even make that, and that is the problem with where we are.

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