NEW: Derrick Van Orden Doubles Down on Defunding Mayo Clinic, Ripping Away Health Care from Wisconsinites [Heartland Signal]

Derrick Van Orden can’t help himself. 

In a radio appearance last week, Van Orden:

1. Doubled down on his crusade of ripping away “every single penny of federal funding from the Mayo Clinic” and the Wisconsinites served by Mayo Clinic facilities
2. Admitted his scheme would “hurt them”
3. And responded to a constituent’s concerns by saying, “I’m not a research assistant, buddy, I’m your Congressman.”

Van Orden: “So saying that we’re threatening federal funding, and I am, and I am saying that we’re going to remove federal funding [from Mayo Clinic]… By saying that I’m going to hurt them in the short term, it’s going to help us in the long term.”

DCCC Spokesperson Katie Smith:
“Derrick Van Orden is on a crusade to close down Mayo Clinic’s facilities across Western Wisconsin and rip away health care and jobs from his constituents. Van Orden is an out-of-touch egomaniac who is so obsessed with his title of ‘Congressman,’ he can’t even pretend to care that Wisconsinites will lose their health care if he gets his way.”

Read more:

• During an appearance on “The John Fredericks Show” last Thursday, U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-WI) reiterated his intent to defund Mayo Clinic and hospitals…
• During the show, a caller asked Van Orden about his X posts calling for the removal of “every single penny of federal funding from the Mayo Clinic.” 
• Mayo Clinic receives substantial federal funding in the form of grants and contracts from the National Institute of Health (NIH) and other government departments. This money helps fund cancer treatment, cardiovascular disease, aging and other health care research. The network has 28 health care facilities in Van Orden’s 3rd Congressional District in Wisconsin, including in La Crosse, Eau Claire, Holmen and Sparta alongside more rural areas.
• When asked if this funding should be removed because somebody at Mayo Clinic said something that he didn’t agree with, Van Orden got defensive and doubled down on his pledge to remove all federal funding from the Mayo Clinic and falsely claimed that the organization is “inciting violence.”
• Van Orden went on to tell the caller to Google his own examples of Mayo Clinic inciting violence, and that he is “not a research assistant buddy. I’m your congressman.”
• “So saying that we’re threatening federal funding that I am and I am saying we’re going to remove federal funding from anybody who hires these people who celebrate the assassination of American citizens, because it’s actually against the law. By saying that I’m going to hurt them in the short term, it’s going to help us in the long term,” Van Orden continued.

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