WASHINGTON, D.C. – Over the last 27 hours, Senator Andy Kim participated in a marathon voting session on Republicans’ budget reconciliation bill that includes the largest cut to healthcare in the country’s history. As he stood up for New Jersey working families against disastrous cuts to vital programs like Medicaid and SNAP, Senator Kim put forward changes to protect healthcare for families across our country. 

“Senate Republicans have failed a simple test of courage, choosing to bend a knee to Donald Trump instead of defending millions of hardworking families they swore an oath to represent,” said Senator Kim. “This bill is devastating. Americans know it is devastating. We need to harness the energy and power of the thousands calling our offices and marching in the streets. My no vote today is not the end of my work to stand up for New Jerseyans and against this disastrous budget plan as it moves toward a House of Representatives with a duty to stop it.” 

Key changes introduced by Senator Kim would stand up for working families and defend access to affordable and quality healthcare in New Jersey by doing the following:  

• Standing up for New Jersey families and fully eliminating the SALT cap by stripping all mentions of SALT from the reconciliation bill. 

• • The SALT cap is a tax hike on New Jersey families as they face an affordability crisis. Senator Kim continued his work to alleviate this tax burden for working families in New Jersey by introducing an amendment that would allow the hurtful SALT cap passed in Donald Trump’s disastrous Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in 2017 to expire this year and end this pain for New Jersey families. 

• • Without this amendment, Republicans’ reconciliation bill only provides partial and temporary relief that would again raise working families’ taxes in five years, while handing a massive giveaway to the wealthiest Americans and big corporations. 

• Supporting home-and community-based services providers by striking provisions that put unfair burdens and red tape on home care workers. 

• • Over the next 10 years, it is estimated that we will need approximately 1 million more home care workers. Without this amendment, the final bill creates roadblocks for people to become home care workers who provide critical at-home support for seniors and people with disabilities. 

• • The amendment failed to pass after every Republican, except one, voted against it. 

• Preventing higher health insurance costs for working families by removing provisions that would increase the health insurance premiums or out-of-pocket costs under Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, or private insurance marketplaces established under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act for middle class individuals or families. 

• • As the bill stands without this change, in New Jersey alone over 454,000 families will see higher costs in premiums because of Republicans’ budget plan. 

• Protecting health insurance for children by making changes to the bill that ensures it does not increase the number of uninsured children in the country. 

• • The Republican bill as a whole exacerbates gaps in affordable care for our most vulnerable communities, including hundreds of thousands of children who will lose coverage through Medicaid, and ultimately have their health placed at risk. 

• Preventing hospital closures by eliminating provisions that would force the closure of hospitals or otherwise reduce access to affordable healthcare. 

• • With Medicaid being a critical resource for hospitals across the country, Medicaid cuts in this bill would force hospitals to cut their services, or worse, risk having to close their doors to their communities.

While one in three children in New Jersey rely on Medicaid, Republicans in Congress support a budget that slashes $930 billion from the program. Cuts to Medicaid would impact 300,000 people with a disability in New Jersey and 60% of nursing home residents who utilize Medicaid for their care. In the state, one in seven adults between the ages of 19 and 64 are covered by Medicaid.  

Before being elected to the U.S. Senate, Kim represented New Jersey’s Third Congressional District in the U.S. House and was a career public servant working in national security and diplomacy at the White House, State Department, and Pentagon. Learn more about Senator Kim’s service on behalf of New Jersey here.  

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