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Felicia Burnett's picture

As parents, we know when there’s silence, there’s often some sort of trouble happening. And soon after the silence—we hear that inevitable crash!!

Well, right now there’s a whole lot of silence happening behind closed doors in the U.S. Senate. The extremist Republican members of the U.S. Senate, led by Senator Mitch McConnell, are trying to pull a fast one on our nation’s families and our health care.

Sign on now! Tell U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell that we know he’s up to something and the public deserves a say on health care!

What’s going on? The U.S. Senate Republican leadership, led by Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is refusing to hold hearings that would allow them to hear from those who know health care best, including families that would be harmed by cuts to Medicaid and by the repeal of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). They’re also keeping their health care bill draft a secret, even from their Democratic colleagues—just like the U.S. House of Representatives did—and we know how well that turned out! (Hint: Disastrous!)

This is NOT okay! Suspicious silence doesn’t create good policy. No one should be kept in the dark when it comes to our families’ and our nation’s health!

**Join me and sign our letter to U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell TODAY telling him to be transparent about the Senate’s health care bill and hold public hearings!

Here are more details on what’s happening: U.S. Senator McConnell has initiated Rule 14 proceedings, which is just a fancy way of saying he is trying to fast track the repeal of the Affordable Care Act. No hearings. No expert input. And we may not even see a draft of the bill until a day before they vote. It is outrageous!!

Just a month ago the U.S. House of Representatives tried something similar. They even hid their awful health care bill somewhere in a locked room in the U.S. Capitol and wouldn’t allow anyone to see it! It turned out that the House bill would kick 70 million people, including 30 million children, off of Medicaid. It would turn the clock back to a time when people with pre-existing conditions could be denied care and most people paid astronomical out-of-pocket costs. This would hurt our families, communities, and economy!

What is the U.S. Senate leadership trying to hide with their own bill? As we know, silence behind closed doors, often means trouble for those shut out of the room. Our families deserve to know what kind of health care system they are trying to cook up! We deserve to know if our children with pre-existing conditions will be denied coverage, or if Medicaid will be slashed, or if we’ll be paying more for less quality plans—all of which sadly were components of the bill that was passed by the U.S. House Republicans recently.

**Sign our letter to U.S. Senator McConnell TODAY and tell him to hold public hearings for the Senate healthcare bill and to share the bill language with the public!

While many MomsRising members have spoken out (and some have even been invited to Capitol Hill to tell their stories to the media and select members of Congress), not a single patient or family member has been allowed to testify about the U.S. Senate healthcare bill—a bill that impacts our lives and jeopardizes our care.

We need to shatter the silence, speak out to U.S. Senate leadership, and tell them that we will not be kept in the dark!

The clock is ticking! This whole process is moving far too quickly, so we need you to take action now and then forward this email to your friends and family to urge them to sign our letter as well. Also: To double down on your impact, can you also post our action link to Facebook and Twitter?

Together, when we speak out, we can make our families healthier and have a brighter future!


The views and opinions expressed in this post are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of MomsRising.org.

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