Civil and Human Rights Coalition Blasts Graham-Cassidy Bill Following Partial CBO Score
WASHINGTON – Vanita Gupta, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, released the following statement after the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its partial analysis of the “Graham-Cassidy” proposal to repeal the Affordable Care Act:
“There is no bipartisan support in the Senate for taking away health care from millions of people, so Senate Republicans are racing to exploit a procedural budgetary tool that expires at the end of the month. In their partisan haste to destroy Medicaid and defund Planned Parenthood, they are preventing the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office from providing a complete assessment that would fully show the scope of the destruction that the Graham-Cassidy legislation will cause. It is unconscionable and irresponsible to contemplate taking away health care from millions of people, ending Medicaid as we know it, and dramatically altering one-sixth of the U.S. economy without a full understanding of the costs and consequences that a full CBO score provides, along with adequate time to examine and debate the Graham-Cassidy bill with all the facts.
Champions of this bill clearly do not want people in America and other members of Congress to know just how many millions of people will have their health care taken away and how much more those who still have access to health care will have to pay. The bipartisan experts who know what this legislation will do to the Medicaid program — including all 50 Medicaid state directors — are sounding the alarm about how this will devastate the health and lives of the millions of people who rely on it every day.
Access to health care should be a guaranteed right for all, not just the wealthy who can afford it. This fight is far from over and we will not stop fighting to protect people with disabilities, people of color, women, seniors, and low and moderate-income families, from having their health care taken away. We call on every member of Congress to oppose the Graham-Cassidy proposal and instead focus on bipartisan efforts to stabilize the health insurance marketplace and increase access to health care for all.”
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights is a coalition charged by its diverse membership of approximately 200 national organizations to promote and protect the rights of all persons in the United States. The Leadership Conference works toward an America as good as its ideals. For more information on The Leadership Conference and its approximately 200 member organizations, visit www.civilrights.org.