Rep. Judy Chu Votes Against GOP Spending Bill that Fails To Address Health Care Costs For Millions

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, the House of Representatives passed the Senate Amendment to H.R. 5371, Republicans' government funding legislation, by a vote of 222-209. Rep Judy Chu (CA-28) voted no and released the following statement:

"Donald Trump and Republicans have completely betrayed their promise to lower costs," said Rep. Chu. "They have used every single opportunity to enrich themselves and raise costs for the American people, and this legislation is no exception.

"For the past eight weeks, House Republicans have been on a taxpayer-funded vacation while refusing to lift a finger to solve the catastrophic health care crisis they created. Now, 24 million Americans across the country-who are already suffering from higher prices because of the Trump administration's disastrous policies-are seeing their health care premiums double, triple, and even quadruple in cost. A 60-year-old couple in the San Gabriel Valley making $80,000 a year would see their premiums soar by 283 percent-thousands of dollars more, for the same plan.

"This is a deliberate choice by Trump and Republicans, who just four months ago gladly kicked 15 million people off their health care so they could give trillions of dollars in tax cuts to the ultra-wealthy through their Big Ugly Law. Now, they are choosing to inflict even more pain on working families rather than extend the Affordable Care Act's premium tax credits that keep coverage affordable. Democrats repeatedly offered legislation to extend the ACA tax credits, but Republicans rejected it every single time.

"Instead of working with Democrats, President Trump spent the government shutdown - the longest in U.S. history - demolishing the East Wing of the White House, hosting lavish parties at his private club, and golfing. While he and House Republicans vacationed, his administration illegally withheld SNAP food benefits from 42 million Americans-including 75,000 households across California's 28^th Congressional District. And in a final insult to the American people, Senate Republicans quietly snuck in a provision allowing Senators who had their phone records subpoenaed for the January 6th insurrection to line their own pockets with millions in taxpayer dollars.

"At every step, Trump and Republicans chose to serve themselves at the expense of the millions of Americans struggling to afford groceries, rent, and health care. For these reasons, I voted no."