John,

This week, a federal judge extended her court order to block Trump’s attempt to fire nearly all staff at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau—the federal agency that protects working people from corporations that seek to rip us off.

This is an important temporary win at a crucial time: I worked closely with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to remove $50 billion in medical debt from 15 million Americans’ credit reports, which should go into effect this month.  

Last year I hosted the Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) for a round table in Michigan about the crushing impact of medical debt on families. We heard directly from residents in my Congressional district, including one woman who had to navigate “astounding” medical bills after her husband was diagnosed with the terminal illness known as ALS.

Medical debt is the leading cause of bankruptcy in our country, and many families lose their homes or struggle to access necessities like housing or transportation because of debt collections listed on their credit report. Imagine being denied housing while wrestling with a major medical issue and mounting bills. This is unconscionable.

That’s why, since my first few months in Congress, I’ve fought to ban medical debt from appearing on credit reports. I passed this legislation in the House of Representatives but it wasn’t signed into law, so I worked with the CFPB to get it done. I’ve also co-led legislation to end medical debt altogether with Congresspeople like Senator Bernie Sanders, and as a member of the Medicare for All Caucus I’ve co-sponsored legislation to secure universal high-quality healthcare for all.

I will never stop fighting for the majority of Americans who live paycheck to paycheck and can’t afford expenses like medical emergencies. I will keep demanding changes to our profit-driven healthcare system, which is killing thousands of Americans each year because they can’t afford healthcare. Even among adults who have health insurance coverage, 1 in 5 have skipped medical treatment because of concerns about cost.

While continuing to push back against corporate greed, I will also continue defending the much-needed relief we won for 15 million Americans who can access more economic opportunities without medical bills on their credit reports. I will also keep pushing to expand life-saving programs like Medicaid and Medicare, to lower and cap healthcare costs, to secure Medicare for All, to end medical debt, and more.

Will you chip in $5 or more today to help defend the programs our communities rely on AND build the society we deserve, where instead of fighting for scraps we all have access to healthcare and other life-saving needs?

Last month I held a town hall in my district about erasing medical debt and the pathway to Medicare for All, where organizational leaders and public health experts shared their experiences fighting for universal healthcare.

Without Medicare for All, millions of people lack coverage, while expenses continue to rise. We all deserve so much better than a broken healthcare system that profits off of sickness and leaves more than 20 million people without health insurance. We deserve a system that guarantees healthcare as a human right.

I will keep pushing for a society where all of us can thrive, and I will keep pushing back against right-wing threats to steal from us in order to pay for huge tax breaks for billionaires and powerful corporations.

For example, I voted no and spoke out against the Republican budget framework passed last week by the U.S. House of Representatives. I’m continuing to stay loud about how it’s disgraceful that Republicans and unelected billionaires are trying to dismantle the taxpayer-funded social services that our communities rely on.

Everyday people continue to speak up as well. GOP members of Congress keep hearing from their upset constituents across political parties after taking actions like voting to cut the state-federal health insurance program known as Medicaid. Polls show strong bipartisan support for lowering and capping healthcare costs, with 84% of Republicans in favor of canceling medical debt. Most support Medicaid as well.

Medicaid covers 1 in 5 Americans—including 60% of all nursing home residents and nearly 40% of all children. However, many people may not realize that their healthcare is covered by Medicaid, because Medicaid is called a variety of names depending on what state you live in.

In my state of Michigan, for example, our Medicaid program is called Medical Assistance. The organization MoveOn made this graphic that names Medicaid in each state:

(Note: States like Indiana and Minnesota have multiple names for Medicaid programs, so this is not an exhaustive list. After posting, MoveOn made a correction that Medicaid is known as NC Medicaid in North Carolina.)

While Congress was on recess last week, I held a town hall in my district about advocating to protect federal programs and our communities. We had a panel with nonprofit groups MoveOn, Indivisible, and Democracy Forward to provide action items for residents who want to help educate, organize, and resist the attacks on vital federal programs and services.

People showed up across the country at town halls last week, which is an important way to push your Senators and your Representative in the U.S. House. When many Republican Congresspeople fail to listen to their constituents’ demands for them to hold town halls in their districts, Americans are showing up in protest anyway.

At least one Republican Senator shamefully left in the middle of a town hall last week, which was packed with his constituents who were upset about cuts to federal programs like the Department of Veteran Affairs.

We know that too many leaders in our government are ignoring or are completely out of touch with the people they’re supposed to represent. I’m pushing to change that because we deserve a real democracy that helps everyone thrive. Will you join me?

Please donate $5 or more to my campaign so we can keep defending the programs our communities rely on while also building a truly equitable society that guarantees the human rights to healthcare, housing, and more.

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With you in this fight,

Rashida