At a GOP convention in Dallas, U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden touted rural healthcare investments in a Republican-authored reconciliation package while attacking Democrats for “shamefully” voting against it.
Van Orden, R-Prairie du Chien, on Wednesday highlighted the $50 billion Rural Healthcare Transformation Program. Wisconsin is set to receive over $200 million in the first year of the five-year program.
“From Washington to Wisconsin, Democrats spent months demonizing the tax cuts we delivered, and now that millions of dollars are returning back home to rural communities they’re rushing to take credit for one of the largest investments,” Van Orden said.
The program is part of the 2025 reconciliation package known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” which Republicans later rebranded as the “Working Families Tax Cut Act.”
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That legislation permanently extended individual and corporate tax cuts while also cutting federal funding for programs like SNAP, Medicaid and clean energy incentives.
Van Orden, who is seeking a third term in Congress, was among the featured speakers at the two-day midterm convention, which aims to drum up support for Republicans ahead of this fall’s midterms. President Donald Trump is headlining both nights of the two-day event.
Van Orden faces a rematch with Dem Rebecca Cooke.
In a statement, Cooke told WisPolitics the first bill she would introduce if elected would be “to repeal those disastrous cuts” that were part of the reconciliation package.
“Congressman Van Orden can continue to defend the Big Ugly Bill all he wants. Folks here in West Central Wisconsin see their health care costs going up and their doctors leaving town,” Cooke said.