Clean Water Action on the Senate’s Bill to Repeal the Affordable Care Act

WASHINGTON, June 23 -- Clean Water Action issued the following statement by resident and CEO Bob Wendelgass:

Senator McConnell and the Republican Leadership in the Senate are rushing to complete a hasty and secretive process that will potentially upend one-sixth of the US economy while taking healthcare away from millions and cutting Medicaid.

"Clean water is essential for human health - and so is access to affordable health care. The water and environment in too many low-income and frontline communities are disproportionately impacted by pollution and failing infrastructure. This can mean poor health outcomes for many of the individuals and families in these communities, which makes quality health care critical. But unfortunately, many of these same communities often lack access to proper health care and affordable insurance."

"The Affordable Care Act began to address these injustices. It was a starting point that improved access to care and began to change the lives of millions of American families. The President and Congress should be working to expand coverage and make sure more people can access the health care they need. Instead, they are rushing through a bill that will mean millions of people will lose access to insurance. And they are doing it behind closed doors with no opportunity for input from the public."

"The President and Congress used a similar playbook to gut safeguards that kept coal companies from dumping waste into streams and are using it to rollback protections for the drinking water sources for more than 117 million Americans. The President and Congress are spending too much time listening to special interests rather than protecting the public interest."

"We stand with the vast majority of Americans who are opposed to this mean and destructive bill."