By Lauren Burke
During a session with reporters on May 15, six members of the Congressional Black Caucus discussed their battle to push back on massive cuts to health care and messaging strategy.Chairwoman Yvette Clarke (D-NY), Rep. Troy Carter (D-LA), Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-WA), Rep. Robin Kelly (D-IL), Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) and Rep. Jennifer McClellan (D-VA) attended the media session. The interviews took place a day before Republicans in the U.S. House on the Budget Committee failed to advance President Trump’s budget plan. Though the budget failed to advance, because GOP members want even deeper cuts to social programs, the committee will meet again late in the evening on Sunday, May 18. “We understood the assignment. We understood that the bulk of the cuts that were going to fund these tax cuts were going to come from, you know, on the backs of people’s health care,” said Congresswoman Jennifer McClellan (D-VA) after a question from Black Press USA. “Nationwide, they’re going to strip 13.7 million people off of health care, off their health insurance. In Virginia, that’s going to be a little over 200,000. And it’s going to blow a hole in our state budget,” Rep. McClellan added. The members were asked about why Democrats focused on Medicaid almost exclusively when the budget cuts millions in so many subjects — education being a second point of concern.
Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) provided an answer on why health care has become a major point of focus for Democrats. “You see that people are upset, the country did not respond in the way that you would normally think they would respond to somebody being assassinated. And so, healthcare is a really big issue, but also we have the numbers… House Dems on the Budget Committee have a website that they set up that literally lists how many people are impacted in each of the districts,” Rep. Crockett pointed out. Rep. Crockett was referring to the murder of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York City on December 4, 2024. He was allegedly killed by 26-year-old Luigi Mangione who posted online about an ongoing health problem with his lower back. The battle over health care has gone on since the Affordable Care Act passed in 2010 during the presidency of Barack Obama. Since then, Republicans have fought for more privatization of the health care system and Democrats have worked to implement policies that would cover more Americans — such as Medicaid expansion.
