Washington, DC – The National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) Action Fund released the following statement after Republicans and Donald Trump forced a government shutdown by refusing to work in good faith with Democrats to protect people’s health care.
“By refusing to work with Democrats to protect women and families from soaring health care costs, Donald Trump and congressional Republicans have steered us straight into a shutdown,” said Emily Martin, chief program officer at NWLC Action Fund. “They’d rather play reckless political games than protect women and families.
“In addition to shutting down the government to avoid lowering health care costs, Trump is threatening to use the shutdown to irresponsibly fire more public servants, harming everyone who depends on a functioning government. We are deeply grateful to the federal workers whose essential work keeps millions of women and families afloat, and who Trump is using as political pawns. This hurts not only these workers and their families, but anyone who depends on Social Security and Medicare, attends public schools, or seeks protections against discrimination in the workplace.
“Republicans need to come to the table and pass a funding bill that protects women and families from skyrocketing health care costs. That starts with making the ACA enhanced premium tax credits permanent and repealing the catastrophic Medicaid cuts jammed through by Republicans earlier this year. In addition, any funding agreement must include guardrails to block Trump from illegally withholding federally approved funds for vital programs such as Head Start, because a budget agreement is meaningless if the administration is not bound to it.”
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