Dear john,

This week, every single Conservative colleague of mine (except one) voted for their budget plan.

Before the vote, I spoke on the House Floor which you can watch here.

I voted against the bill, and wanted to explain why: the consequences to El Pasoans and the rest of the country will be devastating.

One of my committees - the Democratic House Committee on the Budget - published the following damning data:

• Overall, the budget plan represents an average annual tax cut of $314,266 for the richest 0.1%, totaling over $2 trillion in giveaways to CEOs and big corporations.
• In El Paso, 95,000 El Pasoans who receive coverage under the Affordable Care Act in our community would see their average premium go up by $440 per year — a 100% increase.
• Many families would face even steeper consequences. A 60-year-old couple with a household income of $85,000 in El Paso would see their health insurance costs increase by $14,534 per year — a 201% increase in premiums.
• It also means that 131,397 El Pasoans on Medicaid are at risk of losing their health care, including 97,903 children under the age of 19 and 28,000 seniors over 65.
• It also threatens the 152,000 El Pasoans who count on SNAP to put food on the table.

I could not support a bill that goes after our most vulnerable.