Advocacy Orgs Launch Ad Campaign to Defend Healthcare in Face of Shutdown

This week, a coalition of public interest organizations: Public Citizen, Indivisible, MoveOn, Fair Share America, People for the American Way, American Federation of Teachers, SEIU, National Education Association, and Working Families Power launched a new ad campaign in Axios’s Hill Leaders newsletter urging Congress to stand firm in defense of health care even as the Trump administration launches cruel and wholly unnecessary firings above and beyond traditional shutdown furloughs. The ads will appear in every issue of the newsletter this week.

The new ad campaign highlights the threat that the budget proposal being pushed by Trump and Congressional Republicans pose to health care access and affordability, stating: “Republicans have shut down the government because they have no interest in keeping healthcare affordable for millions of Americans. Doubling insurance premiums is not what Americans need. Enough is enough! We must fight to save healthcare.”

The first of the ads comes nearly two weeks into the government shutdown. The groups behind the ads say any deal to fund the government must include protections for Americans’ health care and Congress’s power of the purse, which the Trump administration has repeatedly flouted.

Lisa Gilbert, co-president of Public Citizen, stated: “Across the country, Americans are urging their representatives to push back against Trump’s destructive agenda and fight for a budget that protects access to health care and safeguards Congress’s authority over federal spending. Members who are fighting for these principles should know that the American people stand with them.”

Katie Bethell, executive director of MoveOn, said: “Healthcare is worth fighting for. It’s time for Republicans to join Democrats and end the healthcare price hikes that are coming for millions of working Americans. MoveOn members won’t stop fighting for affordable healthcare.”

Kristen Crowell, executive director of Fair Share America, said: “Working people in this country pay our taxes, and have watched this Republican Trifecta in Congress and the White House take trillions of our tax dollars and hand them away to the billionaires while creating a crisis that will increase our health care costs exponentially. Now they've shut down the government rather than protect our healthcare. We are fighting to take back the funding that they stole from us, re-fund the programs our communities need and create a government that works for everyone – not just the billionaires.”

Maurice Mitchell, national director of Working Families Power, said: “Trump and Republicans don’t care that our health insurance premiums are going to spike, or that tens of millions of families will lose care under their plan. They only care about satisfying their billionaire donors. It's important that voters know that Republicans would rather shut down the government than lower health care costs for our families."

Svante Myrick, president of People For the American Way, added: “Republicans slashed healthcare funding, now they’re holding the American people hostage as their reckless cuts are poised to hurt millions of Americans. Democrats are fighting for affordable healthcare for all, and we fully support that fight. Restore affordable healthcare now.”

The ad launch is part of a broader initiative by the sponsoring organizations and others to demand Congress agree on a budget plan that protects health care from Trump administration cuts and prevents Trump from simply refusing to spend duly appropriated funds.