Rep. Schrader Reacts to Failed Skinny Repeal in the Senate

WASHINGTON, July 28 -- Rep. Kurt Schrader, D-Ore., issued the following news release:

Just over two weeks after Congressman Kurt Schrader (OR-05) led a group of ten House Democrats to unveil Solutions Over Politics, a series of proposals to stabilize the individual market and improve the Affordable Care Act, repeal of the ACA died in the Senate in a late night vote.

"The uncertainty that the new administration has created is throwing the health care industry into a spiral and it's the folks across this country who will pay for it the most," said Rep. Schrader. "If we don't start acting on real solutions, everyone at home is going to pay for it with higher premiums. It's never been more apparent than it has this past month that politicking and partisanship will not get us to a solution; working together will. I'm glad to see that the Senate recognizes we don't need reckless bills that are only meant to fulfill empty political promises. We need concrete solutions and real proposals that will solve the problems at hand. I'm sick of political nonsense taking rank over good policy and real solutions. I know my neighbors and a lot of my colleagues from both sides of the aisle are sick of it, too."

Rep. Schrader has firmly opposed the Republican efforts to repeal Obamacare, voting against the House version of the bill in April, after a 27-hour marathon markup of the bill in his Energy and Commerce Committee. Earlier this month, he led a group in the only concrete proposal to improve the ACA from the House which has since been endorsed by roughly half of the Democratic caucus, including Ranking Members of the Energy & Commerce Subcommittees on Health, Gene Green, and Oversight & Investigations, Diana DeGette. The plan was developed by a group of ten Members that span the Democratic caucus and represent districts across the country, including Peter Welch of Vermont, Terri Sewell of Alabama, Ron Kind of Wisconsin, and Ami Bera, M.D. of California.