After a Decade in Congress, Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler’s Record on Health Care and Special Interest Ties Completely Fails Southwest Washington Families
As voters prepare to hear from Jaime Herrera Beutler on the issues for the first time since her last in-person town hall over 1,360 days ago, they will hear how she has moved to the far right of her party. Since then, she’s politically bear-hugged President Trump and embraced her party’s DC agenda of cutting health care and bailing out their corporate political donors.
While voters consistently say access to quality, affordable health care is a top priority, Herrera Beutler and party are still pursuing a lawsuit to dismantle the Affordable Care Act. If successful, Herrera Beutler, her party and President Trump would gut protections for almost 654,000 people in Washington with pre-existing conditions and 52,000 in the district would lose coverage.
But that’s only part of the story. Herrera Beutler has consistently sided with big insurance companies and drug manufacturers over the people of Southwest Washington, and one look at her campaign coffers shows her $1.6 million reasons why: she supports her donors over Southwest Washington families. Herrera Beutler’s record on health care is reckless and makes Southwest Washington’s just downright sick. She’s:
- Against The Affordable Care Act: When Herrera Beutler is not taking care of her corporate campaign donors, she is voting over 50 times to repeal health care and supporting a lawsuit which would undermine health care for 654,000 Washingtonians, including those with preexisting conditions like COVID-19. She even bragged that she voted over 80 times to dismantle our health care system while taking hundreds of thousands in special-interests money.
- Supports Closing Rural Hospitals: As the pandemic puts Washington’s rural hospitals on the “brink of financial collapse”, Herrera Beutler has voted to cut off every remaining lifeline. From voting for the tax law that gave handouts to corporations to voting against Medicaid expansion, Herrera Beutler’s has shown longstanding opposition to providing rural hospitals the support they clearly need right now. Rural hospitals serve over 70 percent of Washington, including in Southwest Washington where six rural hospitals accommodate for over a quarter million medical visits and over 5,000 hospital admissions every year.
- In Favor of Tax Handouts For Corporate Donors, Voting To Enable Rising RX Drugs Costs: It was Herrera Beutler’s “defining moment” in her congressional career, a vote for the Trump Tax scam, that – a creature of the Washington GOP’s corporate special interests. Herrera Beutler not only has taken thousands from the prescription drug industry, and then voted their way, she voted to let pharmaceutical companies keep drug prices high and to give them a giant tax handout. Those same companies then turned around and doled out an extra 50 billion dollars to their wealthy investors, while drug prices for real people rose by as much as 200 percent.
Statement from DCC Spokesperson Andy Orellana:
“Jaime Herrera Beutler didn’t support Donald Trump in 2016, saying “I couldn’t put my name next to his name.” But when it started helping her big corporate donors, Herrera Beutler revealed her true colors and went all in for Trump and confirmed she’s supporting him for reelection. Now her and Trump’s record of cutting health care for thousands of families in Southwest Washington is on the ballot, and the voters are ready to reject their corrupt corporate-funded politics that haven’t delivered for them.”
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