We are in the middle of Donald Trump’s government shutdown, because Donald Trump and Republicans care more about giving tax breaks to billionaires and big corporations than protecting your health care. Despite controlling the White House and both houses of Congress, Republicans have refused to compromise on their extreme and out-of-touch policies that are going to make health care costs skyrocket and cause millions of folks to lose access to the care they need. And Trump is using the shutdown as an excuse to extend his power grab and threaten the services that we depend on.
Hundreds of thousands of federal workers and their families live across the country, depending on our government to pay the bills. On Friday, the White House announced it had begun illegally firing thousands of furloughed workers. The longer the shutdown goes on, the greater the risk that programs receiving federal funding, like food and housing assistance, will be impacted.
The last thing that working people and middle-class families need is higher health care costs.
But I’ve heard from folks across this country: It is clear that we need to keep standing up for working people and middle-class families, fight back against Trump’s illegal power grabs and stop health care costs from surging.
As Americans struggle to afford groceries and pay for housing, the last thing that working people and middle-class families need is higher health care costs. Thanks to Republicans, though, in the weeks and months ahead, Americans nationwide will receive notifications that their health care premiums are going up — by a lot. In some cases, they will double or even triple. If Republicans don’t reverse their disastrous policies, 15 million Americans will lose their health insurance. Another 22 million will face at least $1,000 in higher annual health care costs.
Americans already pay some of the highest costs for health care in the world. These GOP policies will make families go bankrupt, keep people from filling their prescriptions and put millions of lives at risk. But to Trump and Republicans, this is an acceptable price for giving huge tax breaks to billionaires and big corporations.
We are fighting back against this unprecedented abuse of power and Trump’s destruction of our government and our democracy. We know that the Trump administration has been breaking the law and terrorizing communities nationwide. He’s sent the National Guard into cities across the country for no good reason, used masked ICE agents to kidnap people off our streets, ripped our rights away, and he’s weaponizing our government to fight against its own citizens. And while Americans demand a full accounting of the crimes of Jeffrey Epstein, House Republicans are refusing to swear in Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva — the last signature we need to force a vote to release the Epstein files. Enough is enough. Our communities should not have to choose between bankruptcy and health care. We are fighting to protect lifesaving health care for millions of Americans, keep Trump from illegally misusing congressional funds and undo the GOP’s disastrous Medicaid cuts. Our communities should not have to choose between bankruptcy and health care. No one should be afraid to exercise their First Amendment rights or worry about their rights being violated by masked federal agents. That’s why we’re fighting. We should not vote to fund a government that rewards corruption, enriches billionaires at the expense of the working class or rips health care away from millions of Americans. The White House and Republicans can keep trying to intimidate us. Democrats will keep pushing to reopen our government while we fight to fix the GOP health care disaster and hold this administration accountable.
Rep. Robert Garcia
Robert Garcia represents California's 42nd congressional district in the House of Representatives. 
