SEIU’s Henry: Power of families and communities coming together defeats healthcare repeal, protecting care for millions

WASHINGTON—SEIU International President Mary Kay Henry issued the following statement after Republicans failed to pass legislation repealing the Affordable Care Act and gutting Medicaid:

“Republican extremists have tried time and again to take away our healthcare but working families and our communities have come out in record numbers to show our opposition to repeal. Today, working people and our communities prevailed. Through collective action we proved that by coming together and raising our voices we can win an America where all families and communities can thrive.

“The House Republican repeal bill was yet another example of this administration and House GOP leadership rigging the rules to advance corporate profits at the expense of America’s hard-working families. This bill would have taken $880 billion from Medicaid and given billions in tax cuts to corporations and the wealthiest in the top two percent.

"SEIU members like Roxana Giron, a home care worker from Las Vegas, led the charge against this bill alongside millions of others. She cares for four veterans, seven days a week, making $10 an hour with no vacation or paid sick time. If this bill had passed, their lives would have been irrevocably changed but because people like Roxana called their members of Congress and spoke out in the streets our healthcare was saved today.

“Today’s failed vote made clear that working families will not stand by while 24 million people lose their healthcare; seniors, people with disabilities and children are thrown off Medicaid; and tens of thousands of healthcare jobs are lost. With one loud voice, America’s working families have said repeal is dead and its time for Congress and the Administration to stop playing games and start focusing on what working people need: good jobs that pay wages on which we can provide for our families, the opportunity to have a voice on the job in a union, and economy and democracy that includes all of us and an America where all work is valued and every community can thrive.”