On Senate Floor, Kaine Highlights What’s at Stake in Texas V. US ACA Lawsuit

WASHINGTON, July 9 -- Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Virginia, issued the following news release:

U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, delivered a floor speech on the importance of protecting the Affordable Care Act on the day of oral arguments in Texas v. United States, a case before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals that serves as Republicans' latest attempt to dismantle the Affordable Care Act.

Below are key excerpts from the floor speech:

"If the ACA were struck down, families in communities around the country would bear life-altering consequences and the health care system would be thrown into chaos."

"My hope is that we will resist efforts to sabotage and destroy, and instead join together in efforts to improve."

"We should build on and improve and yes, fix - because it's not perfect - fix the ACA to extend its promise of affordable coverage to even more Americans."

In the floor speech, Kaine also raised concerns about rural hospital closures - including in Lee and Patrick counties - and highlighted the fact that rural hospital closures have disproportionately occurred in states that have not expanded Medicaid. Kaine shared the story of a mother originally from Patrick County who wrote to him about how Pioneer Hospital's closure in the area impacts her family. She said, "please help get my home county back on the medical map to give its economy and its people a fighting chance."

Following the floor speech, Kaine joined his colleagues for a press conference highlighting the faces of Americans who would be hurt if Republicans succeed in their effort to strike down the Affordable Care Act, eliminating protections for the 133 million Americans with pre-existing conditions. During the press conference, Kaine highlighted Caleb, a ten-year-old from Winchester living with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. His family says, "We are truly thankful for the ACA as it protects him from losing/being denied care due to the pre-existing condition that he was born with." View photos from the press conference here (https://www.flickr.com/photos/94393826@N02/sets/72157709538614661/).