MADISON, Wis. — Republicans in Congress, led by Wisconsin Representatives Tom Tiffany, Derrick Van Orden, and Bryan Steil, are forcing the government to stay shut down so that they can further gut health care and keep giving tax breaks to billionaires like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos. Under the Republican plans, Americans would be forced to pay more for health care, with reports estimating that premiums could more than double.
“This GOP shutdown is only happening because, while they found over a trillion dollars to give in handouts to billionaires like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, ensuring 24 million Americans’ health care costs don’t go up is not a priority” said Democratic Party of Wisconsin spokesperson Philip Shulman. “While Tom Tiffany and Derrick Van Orden continue to peddle lies and shift blame for the shutdown, Wisconsin families are left worrying about just how much their health care costs are going to skyrocket.”
What Wisconsin Republicans have said on the shutdown:
- Sen. Ron Johsnon
- Sen. Ron Johnson said that anyone who wants to extend subsidies “wants to perpetuate massive fraud”
- WI-01 Rep. Bryan Steil
- Steil said that the ACA is “ripe with waste, fraud, and abuse,” and “unproductive.”
- WI-03 Rep. Derrick Van Orden
- Van Orden said that extending the credits to provide Wisconsinites with affordable health care was “a partisan demand”
- WI-05 Rep. Scott Fitzgerald
- Fitzgerald called extending the tax credits “extreme provisions.”
- WI-06 Rep. Glenn Grothman
- Grothamn said that he believed talks about extending the health care credits should not be tied to any short-term extension of government funding.
- WI-07 Rep. Tom Tiffany
- GOP gubernatorial candidate Tom Tiffany called on Senate Republicans to “hold firm” in their negotiations with Democrats, indicating that he does not want them to compromise on extending ACA tax credits.
- WI-08 Rep. Tony Wied
- Wied said that the tax credits were meant to be temporary, insinuating he does not want to extend them.
