Wyden Offers Support for Biden Stance on Work Reporting Requirements
As Threat of Default Looms, Finance Chairman Urges Continued Opposition to Policies that Harms Lifeline Benefits
Washington, D.C. – Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden, D-Ore., today sent a letter to President Joe Biden expressing support for his position to reject any proposals that take away health care coverage from Americans or increase poverty.
“I am deeply disturbed by the House Republicans’ push to threaten Medicaid health coverage for over 20 million Americans, threaten to push one million children into poverty by gutting the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, and take away needed food assistance from vulnerable families,” Wyden wrote. “I write in strong and unwavering support for the principles you are bringing to the negotiating table on avoiding default with Republicans, specifically that any proposals that take away health coverage from Americans and plunge Americans deeper into poverty will be unacceptable.”
In the letter, Wyden outlines how work reporting requirements harm the workforce because they threaten access to medical care that many Americans need to stay at work. The letter also explains how this cut to Medicaid threatens more than just health coverage by shifting costs onto states and forcing them to choose what parts of their program to cut – including limits to postpartum care or cuts to hospitals, nursing homes, and home and community based care.
Earlier this week, Wyden delivered a speech on the Senate floor outlining his opposition to a proposal by House Republicans that would cut Medicaid and threaten health coverage for millions.
The full letter can be found here.
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