| Ohioans know exactly who’s to blame for their skyrocketing grocery and health care bills: corporate coal lobbyist and D.C. insider Mike Carey.
Last week, Ohioans gathered outside of Carey’s office to sound the alarm on the devastating impacts of his vote to slash SNAP, Medicaid, and education. Protesters had one simple message for Carey as they feel the weight of rising costs: “Congressman Carey, our people matter too.”
Carey’s cuts have stolen SNAP benefits from over 100,000 Ohioans, including over 50,000 children, health care from as many as 356,000 Ohioans, and in Carey’s own district, as much as $40.4 million for special education.
Those reckless votes are leaving Ohio families struggling to make ends meet “as a suffering economy and rising food costs run rampant.”
DCCC Spokesperson Riya Vashi:
“Mike Carey knew exactly what he was doing to his constituents when he voted to rip SNAP and health care away from hardworking Ohioans. Carey can hide in Washington all he wants, but every Ohioan he betrayed will make sure he hears them loud and clear when they vote in November.”
Read more:
Ohio Capital Journal: Ohioans criticize Ohio US Rep. Mike Carey for cuts to SNAP, Medicaid, and education
- Ohio Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Carey’s constituents are speaking out against Congress’s cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Medicaid, and education.
- More than a dozen people recently protested outside Carey’s Columbus office as part of the Center for Popular Democracy’s national “Care Over Cruelty” August Recess Month of Action.
- “We’re here today to demand that Rep. Carey chose priorities that put people first,” said Kate Terenzi with the Center for Popular Democracy.
- “Health care, education, and food must come before tax cuts for billionaires, ICE, data centers, and another endless war. We need care over cruelty.”
- More than 100,000 Ohioans — including more than 50,000 children — have lost their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits since the Republican “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” made the largest cuts to food stamps in the history of the program.
- Carey voted for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and represents Ohio’s 15th Congressional district.
- Carey’s office did not respond to a request for comment by the Ohio Capital Journal.
- Medicaid work requirements part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act could cause 356,000 Ohioans to lose their healthcare coverage and about 113,000 Ohioans have already lost their coverage after tax credits expired.
- In Ohio’s 15th district, 220,200 residents rely on Medicaid, 12% of households receive SNAP, an estimated 33,000 people could lose health coverage by 2034, and $40.4 million in special education funding is at risk, according to event organizers.
- “We are calling on him to restore funding to the critical services like Medicaid, SNAP, fully fund the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and end all funding to ICE, war, and his support to data centers,” Terenzi said.
- “The slashing of public assistance and access to these critical services robs the opportunities, the skills, and the voices of the marginalized and underprivileged,” [said Susan Cavendish, Ohio mom of four with an autistic child]
- Cavendish’s family has seen cuts to their SNAP benefits.
- “It has become increasingly difficult to make up the differences and make sure my children are getting the nutrition they need,” she said.
- “When you cut SNAP, people do not suddenly need less food. Children do not suddenly become less hungry. The grocery bill does not suddenly become smaller as a suffering economy and rising food costs run rampant.”
- Jen Belt, an organizer with Protect Grove City, had a question for Carey: At what cost?
- “We hear about jobs,” she said. “We hear about economic development, we hear about winning the race for artificial intelligence, and yes, economic growth matters, jobs matter, investment matters, but Congressman Carey, our people matter too.”
- Carey will face Democratic candidate Don Leonard in the November election. “I’m a Medicaid kid,” Leonard said in an email. “Those programs gave me a shot at the American Dream. Why would he take that same opportunity away from kids today?”
|
