Rep. Derrick Van Orden is lying to his constituents. On February 13, the House passed a Budget resolution that outlines massive tax cuts benefiting the wealthy and $1.5 trillion in cuts to the federal budget. Derrick Van Orden voted for this bill. Since these cuts to federal spending have far-ranging negative effects on voters in his district, Derrick Van Orden issued a statement: “To be explicitly clear, today’s budget resolution did not include any cuts to specific programs. Anyone who says otherwise is lying and engaging in the fearmongering of our farmers, veterans, seniors and most vulnerable populations… Millions of Americans depend on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid and I will have no part in cutting these programs for the folks that are legally entitled to them.”
This statement is a lie. The budget resolution that Van Orden voted for included a promise that the budget would remove $2 trillion in cuts specifically to “mandatory” government spending. Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and other health programs account for more than 75% of “mandatory” government spending. It is mathematically impossible to cut $2 trillion from “mandatory” spending and not impact these vital services. Rep. Derrick Van Orden is lying to veterans, lying to farmers, lying to seniors and lying to our most vulnerable populations.
As is so often true with Derrick Van Orden, his official statements and social media posts say one thing, while his voting record says the complete opposite. According to William Garcia, Chair of the 3rd CD Democrats of Wisconsin, “You cannot protect the social safety net, which so many of our most vulnerable citizens depend on, while cutting funding to these very services. Already, across the 3rd CD, our farmers are losing much-needed income thanks to government downsizing of SNAP and international aid. We have seen staff firings at our VA hospitals, crucial medical research is being shuttered, our colleges are losing science and tuition funding, and mental health services are disappearing. Passing a budget with $2 trillion of cuts to mandatory spending will do nothing but further endanger our citizens.”
With only a two-vote republican advantage in the House, d0 we really trust Derrick Van Orden, a far-right MAGA firebrand, to stand against President Trump and his own party to protect social welfare programs from being cut?
