Issue Report ● For The People
For Immediate Release: 
September 28, 2020
Contact Info: 
Annaliese Davis 202-225-3130
From day one of the 116th Congress, Democrats have been fighting for the American people. The Democratic Majority has passed legislation to lower the cost of health care and prescription drugs, raise wages for American workers and strengthen our economy, and clean up corruption in our government and strengthen our democracy. While Republicans fail the American people on issue after issue, Democrats put American families first.
 
HEALTH CARE

While Democrats are working to lower health care costs and expand access to affordable health care, Republicans are trying to take away health care during a pandemic. Republicans are attempting to jam through Trump’s nomination to the Supreme Court with fewer than 40 days until the election so that they can achieve what they’ve failed to do legislatively: end the Affordable Care Act. If they succeed, 20 million Americans will lose their health care and 133 million Americans with pre-existing conditions will lose their protections.

Democrats are For The People: Fighting for lower health care costs and access to affordable care
  • Democrats have passed a number of bills to lower health care costs and expand access to affordable health care:
    • H.R. 1425, Patient Protection & Affordable Care Enhancement Act, legislation to strengthen and expand the Affordable Care Act by reducing health coverage costs in marketplace plans and addressing racial disparities in health care by encouraging the expansion of Medicaid.
    • H.R. 6800, Heroes Act, legislation that included free coronavirus treatment and testing, which is necessary to slow the spread and defeat this virus.
    • H.R. 3, Elijah E. Cummings Lower Health Care Costs Now, legislation to bring down the cost of prescription drugs by giving Medicare the power to negotiate with drug companies, making those negotiated prices available to Americans with private insurance, and creating a new out-of-pocket limit on prescription drug costs for people on Medicare.
    • H.R. 987, Strengthening Health Care and Lowering Prescription Drug Costs Act, a package of seven bills that will protect and expand access to affordable health care and lower the cost of prescription drugs.
    • H.R. 986, Protecting Americans with Pre-Existing Conditions Act, legislation to reverse the Trump Administration’s sabotage of the ACA and protect the 133 million Americans who have a pre-existing condition.
Republicans Fail The People: Working to take away health care during a pandemic
  • For 10 years, Republicans have said that they would “repeal and replace” the Affordable Care Act; after 10 years, it’s clear they have no plan to replace it – they only want to repeal it.
  • President Trump has promised time and time again that Republicans would introduce a new health care plan to replace the Affordable Care Act and protect Americans with pre-existing conditions – but after four years, has failed to do so.
    • “And it’ll be great health care for much less money. So it’ll be better health care, much better, for less money. Not a bad combination.” [11/13/16]
    • We're gonna come up with a new plan that's going to be better health care for more people at a lesser cost.[1/25/17]
    • “We're going to produce phenomenal health care, and we already have the concept of the plan… We'll be announcing that in two months, maybe less.” [6/16/19]
    • “We’re signing a health-care plan within two weeks, a full and complete health-care plan.” [7/19/20]
  • Republicans’ sole policy objective is to end the Affordable Care Act. Because they have failed to achieve this goal through legislation, they are trying to do it through the courts.
    • In early November, the Supreme Court will hear the Republican lawsuit to strike down the Affordable Care Act. Ending the ACA would:
      • Take health care coverage away from 20 million Americans
      • Take away protections for 133 million Americans who have pre-existing conditions
      • Take away Medicaid coverage for 12 million Americans
      • Take away coverage for 2 million young adults who can stay on their parents’ plan until age 26
      • Allow women to be charged more for coverage just because they’re women
      • End the ban on annual and lifetime limits on coverage
  • Even without repealing the Affordable Care Act, Republican sabotage has had damaging impacts on the American people:
    • In 2019, after repeated attempts by Republicans to undermine and sabotage the Affordable Care Act, there were 33.2 million uninsured Americans – an increase of 5.7 million Americans since President Obama’s last year in office in 2016, when 27.5 million Americans were uninsured.
    • In 2020, a report found that from February 2020 through May 2020 alone, an estimated 5.4 million Americans became uninsured because of unprecedented job loss caused by the Republican mismanagement of this pandemic.
  • Republicans have failed to take the COVID-19 pandemic seriously and have failed to show leadership by creating or implementing a national plan to get it under control. As a result:
    • COVID deaths in the U.S., as of 9/28/20: 204,762
    • COVID cases in the U.S., as of 9/28/20: 7,116,456
THE ECONOMY

While Democrats are working to make our economy work better for American workers and raise wages, Republicans passed a massive tax cut for the wealthiest Americans and allowed our economy to decline rapidly during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Republican tax scam raised taxes on millions of American families while benefiting the wealthiest in our nation.

Democrats are For The People: Higher Paychecks By Rebuilding America
  • Democrats have passed legislation to:
    • H.R. 582, Raise the Wage Act, a bill to gradually raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, which would raise wages for 33 million Americans and lift 1.3 million Americans out of poverty.
    • H.R. 7, Paycheck Fairness Act, a bill to close the wage gap and ensure women receive equal pay for equal work.
    • H.R. 2474, Protecting the Right to Organize Act, a bill to protect the right of workers to organize and bargain collectively.
    • H.R. 2, Moving Forward Act, bold legislation to rebuild our nation’s infrastructure that will help create good jobs and spur economic growth.
Republicans Fail The People: Tax Cuts for the Wealthy, Allowing the Economy to Tank By Failing to Lead on the Pandemic
  • Republicans’ economic agenda is solely focused on helping the wealthy at the expense of the middle class.
  • Republicans have failed to show leadership by implementing a national strategy to get the COVID-19 pandemic under control; as a result, unemployment has jumped, many small businesses are at risk of going under, and the deficit has sky-rocketed.
    • When President Trump took office in January 2017, unemployment was at 4.7 percent. Today, due to the mismanagement of the COVID-19 pandemic by President Trump and Republicans, unemployment is at 8.4 percent.
    • Roughly 30 million Americans remain out of work.
    • More than 100,000 small businesses are projected to have closed permanently as a result of COVID-19.
    • During President Obama’s last full year in office in 2016, the deficit stood at $585 billion. Today, due to the mismanagement of the COVID-19 pandemic by President Trump and Republicans, the deficit stands at $3.3 trillion (CBO projection for 2020).  
GOVERNING & DEMOCRACY
 
While Democrats passed legislation to make government work better for the people it serves and strengthen our democracy, Republicans have blocked consideration of that legislation in the Senate. President Trump and members of his Administration have engaged in unethical behavior; multiple people have been indicted and charged with crimes, and President Trump is actively making money off of the office he holds. To date, more than $16 million in taxpayer and private funds have been spent at Trump properties since 2015.

Democrats are For The People: Clean Up Corruption & Strengthen Democracy
  • Democrats have passed several bills to clean up corruption in government and strengthen our democracy:
    • H.R. 1, For the People Act, comprehensive legislation to end the influence of dark money in politics.
    • H.R. 4, Voting Rights Advancement Act, legislation restoring the full protections of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
    • H.R. 2722, SAFE Act, legislation to strengthen election security. 
    • H.R. 4617, SHIELD Act, legislation to prevent foreign interference in our elections.
    • H.R. 748, CARES Act, and H.R. 6800, Heroes Act, both include assistance to states to ensure all Americans can vote safely during the coronavirus pandemic.
Republicans Fail The People: Rampant Corruption of the Trump Administration
  • Senate Republicans have blocked consideration of the above bills, except the CARES Act.
  • President Trump and his Administration have engaged in unethical and corrupt behavior since the beginning of his campaign and continuing through his Presidency:
    • President Trump refused to divest from his real estate companies or place his assets into a blind trust, violating the emoluments clause of the U.S. Constitution. Since 2015, more than $16 million in political and taxpayer funds have been spent at Trump properties.
    • Trump Administration officials routinely violate the Hatch Act, a law that prevents civil service employees from engaging in political activity while on duty. During the recent political conventions, Trump Administration officials violated the Hatch Act at least 15 times.
    • President Trump has repeatedly solicited foreign interference in the U.S. election, and on December 18, 2019, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to impeach President Trump for abusing his power by attempting to bribe a foreign government to interfere in the 2020 election, and for obstructing Congress to cover it up.
    • Numerous Trump Administration and Trump campaign officials have been convicted of crimes.
      • Roger Stone: Convicted of lying under oath to lawmakers investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election
      • Paul Manafort: Convicted of tax and bank fraud. Pled guilty to conspiracy charges related to money laundering and witness tampering
      • Michael Cohen: Convicted of lying to Congress about a proposed Trump real estate project. Guilty of securing hush money to pay off women who had sexual encounters with President Trump
      • Michael Flynn: Pled guilty to lying to the FBI about conversations with the Russian Ambassador to the United States prior to the inauguration of President Trump
      • Rick Gates: Pled guilty to conspiracy against the U.S. and lying to investigators
      • George Papadopoulos: Pled guilty to lying to the FBI about contact with Russian officials
Click here to read the PDF. 

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