LANSING — The Michigan Democratic Party issued the following statement on behalf of MDP Chair Lavora Barnes in response to Mike Pence’s visit to Michigan today:
“The truth about the Trump administration’s economic record can be found just a few miles away from where Mike Pence spoke today—at the closing GM plants in Warren and Hamtramck where workers are losing their jobs and Michigan families throughout the area are living under a cloud of uncertainty and financial anxiety.
“While hardworking Michiganders get lies and lip service about what Donald Trump is allegedly doing for them, at every turn, Trump and his administration are working to help their rich and powerful friends like Besty DeVos.
“That’s why they are working to rip away health care protections for people with pre-existing conditions, passed a tax scam to benefit corporations and the wealthy, threaten to slash Medicare and Social Security, and sit on their hands and do nothing while real wages continue to decline. The Trump-Pence administration has offered Michigan nothing but broken promises, and voters will hold them and their Republican allies accountable in 2020.”
See More Below on the Trump-Pence Record of Broken Promises:
Trump campaigned in Michigan in 2016 and told workers, “You’re not going to lose your jobs anymore.”
- TRUMP: “We’re going to do a lot of expansion. I know exactly what to do folks. You’re not going to lose your jobs anymore. You’re not going to lose your jobs anymore. We are going to bring back the automobile in the state of Michigan bigger, and better, and stronger than ever before.”
Unfortunately, just the opposite happened.
- Associated Press: “In the U.S. about 2,300 jobs will be cut through buyouts and layoffs. About 1,500 already have happened. About 500 workers will be let go this week… Most of Ford’s white-collar workers are in and around the company’s Dearborn, Michigan, headquarters.”
Trump also came to Michigan to assure voters that his health care agenda would expand coverage and save them money…
- TRUMP: “We’re going to absolutely terminate and replace Obamacare… It’s going to be terminated and it’s going to be replaced with something that’s going to be terrific and a lot less expensive and much better coverage.”
Instead, the Trump administration has relentlessly sabotaged the health care market, including going after protections for preexisting conditions.
- Axios: “If DOJ ultimately gets its way here [in striking down the ACA], the ripple effects would be cataclysmic. The ACA’s insurance exchanges would go away. So would its Medicaid expansion. Millions would lose their coverage.
- HHS: As Many As 4,394,173 People With Pre-Existing Conditions In Michigan Could Have Been Denied Coverage Before The ACA Went Into Effect.
- CNN: “The provisions DOJ says should be invalidated are central to the ACA and would gut protections for those with pre-existing conditions. Guaranteed issue requires insurers to offer coverage to everyone regardless of their medical history. Prior to the ACA, insurers often rejected applicants who were ill or had pre-existing conditions or only offered them limited coverage. Under another provision, the community rating provision, insurers were not allowed to set premiums based on a person’s health history.”
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