During the days leading up to the vote on the Big Ugly Bill, I was in-district, listening to people locally, hearing about what the bill would do to Northwest Washington. The people I talked to shared about the devastating consequences this bill would have on Northwest Washington:

• The Joyce L. Sobel Family Resource Center shared that these cuts are going to impact their ability to serve people in Northwest Washington.
  • Since 1988, the Soble Family Resource Center has served as a welcoming and accessible place where over 2,800 islanders per year receive resources, advocacy, help, and education.
• The Northwest Region Council shared that the budget cuts will flood our emergency departments at our hospitals as folks are still desperately going to pursue health care
  • "More people will be found will be found dying or deceased in their homes after weeks of no one hearing from them"
• The cuts to Planned Parenthood prevent the program from getting reimbursements from Medicaid
  • The 4-5 Planned Parenthood medical facilities in Northwest Washington will be impacted by these cuts
  • These cuts to Planned Parenthood are a back-door ban on safe and legal reproductive care. This is going to put people in danger.

Let us make no mistake, the Big Ugly Bill is not about deficit reduction. It is not about cutting spending. It is about cutting spending in order to pay for tax cuts for the richest Americans and largest corporations.

I voted no against this dangerous bill, but Trump and the Chaos Caucus recklessly passed this bill last week.

More soon,

Rick