Ideological Demands Put Rural Healthcare at Risk

It is now nearly one month since the House passed its clean continuing resolution to keep open the federal government. On September 19, House Republicans did our job. We passed legislation which would have prevented—and still could immediately end—the shutdown. This funding bill has received bipartisan support in the Senate. Sadly, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and the vast majority of senate Democrats continue to oppose this commonsense solution and attempt to score political points pushing their far-left agenda rather reopen the federal government so we can back to work addressing the concerns of American families.

It is truly unfortunate Democrats’ political posturing has resulted in an unnecessary government shutdown. As a result, noncontroversial health programs are at risk while ideological demands threaten to undo fiscally responsible reforms.

With our Working Families Tax Cuts legislation (H.R. 1) Republicans made significant progress rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse in Medicaid spending. Because Medicaid programs are administered at the state level and subsidized through significant federal funding, states like California have exploited a loophole to divert taxpayer dollars to individuals for whom the program was never intended.

In H.R. 1, we enacted reasonable reforms to close loopholes and put a cap on federal reimbursements for medical services provided to non-citizens, strengthening Medicaid’s fiscal outlook for the future. Based on Congressional Budget Office estimates, these entirely reasonable, commonsense reforms amount to savings of approximately $219 billion.

Unreasonably, congressional Democrats are rejecting fiscal responsibility and inexplicably want to reverse the reforms. To do so, Democrats’ have demanded $1.5 trillion in new spending, including restoring Medicaid coverage for illegal immigrants as their price for reopening the federal government until mid-November.

Democrats’ proposal would also eliminate the record-breaking $50 billion healthcare investment enacted in H.R. 1 through the Rural Health Transformation Program. This is unconscionable. I have received many positive comments from rural health providers in the Third District about the potential benefit this program holds for our communities and its capacity to promote long-term sustainability for needed services.

Additionally, by failing to pass the continuing resolution passed in the House last month, authorization for commonsense programs which improve access to healthcare, including telehealth and in-home care services has lapsed. For example, the Acute Hospital at Home initiative which empowers health providers to offer care to patients remotely and make hospital beds available for other patients has lapsed, forcing vulnerable patients to be transferred to a physical hospital room for care, creating a health care crisis for some of Nebraska’s sickest seniors, right now.

Created during the response to COVID-19, these flexibilities continue to improve quality of and access to care and reduce costs for patients and providers. They are especially important for rural areas with strained healthcare resources like the Third District. In addition to limiting access to care, the lapses have a direct impact on the financial health of our providers through cancelled appointments and delays in claims processing. To avoid similar circumstances in the future, I have supported legislation to permanently authorize and improve these programs, which enjoy strong bipartisan support in Congress.

It is incredibly unfortunate Leader Schumer and other congressional Democrats are rejecting commonsense solutions in favor of partisan, ideological priorities and have now voted ten times against reopening the federal government. I will continue fighting to support rural healthcare, maintain programs which make healthcare more affordable and accessible, and improve fiscal responsibility for the American people.

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