CONGRESSMAN BISHOP OPPOSES BILL THAT MAKES THE BIGGEST CUT TO MEDICAID IN AMERICAN HISTORY, THREATENS HOSPITALS, GUTS SNAP, KILLS JOBS, UNDERMINES ENERGY INDEPENDENCE, & INCREASES THE DEFICIT

WASHINGTON – Today, Congressman Sanford D. Bishop, Jr. (GA-02) voted against H.R. 1, a budget reconciliation bill authored by United States House and Senate Republicans that will gut billions of dollars from healthcare, food, and other programs as well as add trillions of dollars to the federal budget deficit to pay for tax breaks that overwhelmingly benefit billionaires.

“I opposed this bill in May when it was first debated by the U.S. House of Representatives and now it comes back to us from the U.S. Senate in even worse shape. The bill explodes the federal budget deficit and will lead to more uninsured Americans as well as the closure of hospitals, especially in rural and underserved areas in Middle and Southwest Georgia and across the country,” said Congressman Bishop. “The bill attacks Medicare, Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act. It makes it harder for the most vulnerable to put food on the table. We need to fight fraud, waste, and abuse – not use those words as political cover for billionaire tax giveaways and ballooning the country’s budget deficit.”

H.R. 1 was initially considered in the U.S. House of Representatives and approved on May 22, despite bipartisan opposition to the bill. Congressman Bishop voted against the bill at that time. It was then sent to the U.S. Senate where many of the House bill’s provisions were found to violate Senate rules.

The Senate-amended version of the bill kicks 17 million people off their health care and causes premiums, deductibles, and copays to soar for millions more. Among the health care provisions in H.R. 1:

• It cuts more than $1 trillion from health care, including the largest Medicaid cut ever.
• It will cause a $500 billion cut to Medicare.
• It will make healthcare more expensive and less affordable for people not on Medicare and Medicaid due to greater distances and increased strain on the healthcare system due to hospital closures, staff reductions, loss of services, and increased reliance on emergency rooms for basic healthcare.

H.R. 1 also cuts the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) by 20 percent. It forces states to cover more of SNAP’s cost, which likely will lead to dozens of states eliminating SNAP entirely. New red tape requirements will cause 5 million people to lose food assistance and put tens of millions of kids at risk of losing school breakfast and lunch. This bill also provides unnecessary exceptions for Alaska, which places additional, disproportionate burdens on states like Georgia.

H.R. 1 makes devastating cuts to energy programs that will reduce American energy independence and innovation, cause families to pay an average of $400 more per year nationwide, and puts seniors and low-income people at risk of losing assistance to pay their energy bills.

Additionally, these cuts threaten more than 840,000 energy sector jobs in just the next five years and an additional 790,000 jobs over the next 10 years, including jobs lost in the electric vehicle industry which Georgia Democrats and Republicans have fought to create and make the state an industry leader.

Finally, H.R. 1 adds $4 trillion to the national debt to support tax breaks for the wealthiest 1%. The poorest 20% of American families, however, will see their taxes increase over the lifespan of the bill while their healthcare, food, and energy costs rise.

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