Issues: Public Health

Sanders Questions: Election Day Edition

It is Election Day in Alabama and the whole country is watching to see if President Trump’s candidate will prevail despite his rampant racist rhetoric and history of sexually abusing children. Disgustingly, but to the surprise of absolutely no one, President Trump kicked off the day by calling the women who have accused him of sexual misconduct liars (again) and sexually harassing Senator Kirsten Gillibrand on Twitter. He has no shame and it is up to those in his own party and in his own Administration to speak out against this behavior.

American Bridge Rapid Response Director Emily Aden calls on White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders to answer the following questions:

1. Why is President Trump so afraid of powerful women like Senator Gillibrand?

2. Would President Trump cooperate in a congressional investigation into the dozens of sexual harassment and sexual assault allegations against him?

3. Secretary Mnuchin promised multiple times that the […]

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American Bridge Statement On Alex Azar Hearing

American Bridge Rapid Response Director Emily Aden released the following statement on Alex Azar’s confirmation hearing today before the Senate HELP Committee:

“This morning, Alex Azar failed miserably to convince the American people that he is anything other than a former drug company president looking out for his bottom line. Unsurprisingly, he doubled down on his hostility to the Affordable Care Act, women’s right to birth control coverage, and paid cheap lip service to the high costs of prescription drugs that made him his millions. In round after round of questioning he proved he simply has no good answer about his record raising the prices of life saving medication. If he is confirmed he will carry out the bidding of the industry that made him rich and his ultimate boss- Donald Trump.”

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Five Things To Know About Alex Azar

This morning the Senate HELP Committee will hold its first hearing on HHS Secretary nominee, and former Big Pharma CEO, Alex Azar. Azar is a candidate hand-picked for the drug and insurance companies and will do anything to keep industry profits high even when it means raising insurance premiums and costs for lifesaving medication for the American people. It’s no surprise Azar, like Donald Trump, wants to destroy the Affordable Care Act and turn Medicaid into a block grant program, both of which are on industry bucket lists, raise costs for consumers, and disproportionately hurt women and working families.

American Bridge Rapid Response Director Emily Aden stated, “Donald Trump picked Alex Azar to lead HHS because he knows he can trust Azar to carry out his dangerous and destructive health care agenda. From dismantling the Affordable Care Act, to raising prices for prescription drugs, to rolling back access to women’s health […]

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Trump’s sabotage of Obamacare is driving premiums up by as much as 38%

This morning, a new report from the Kaiser Family Foundation determined that Donald Trump’s executive order cutting-off payment of Affordable Care Act (ACA) funding that helps keep out-of-pocket healthcare costs for working Americans low is driving up premiums on the ACA marketplaces by as much as 38%. This reinforces a similar report by the private healthcare analysis firm Avalere from earlier in the week, which found that Trump’s abrupt ending of these payments is raising premiums on the exchanges by 34% on average.

“Donald Trump promised to make healthcare cheaper, but his sabotage of the Affordable Care Act is exploding premiums by as much as 38%,” said American Bridge spokesperson Andrew Bates. “How much longer will Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress force families to bear the skyrocketing costs of their spiteful actions to wreck the law they failed to repeal?  Middle class Americans can’t afford the consequences of their behavior. It’s […]

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Donald Trump Lied When He Promised To Combat The Opioid Crisis

Despite promising repeatedly over the past 77 days to declare the opioid crisis a national emergency, Donald Trump is again failing to deliver today. Declaring a national emergency would have made additional funding and resources available to the federal and state governments to fight the opioid crisis.  Instead, Trump is announcing a narrower set of bureaucratic changes with no additional funding.  

“More than  6,000 Americans  have died from opioid overdoses during the 77 days since Donald Trump pledged to declare the opioid epidemic a national emergency,” said American Bridge Vice President Shripal Shah.  “The President has made it to the golf course nearly every weekend during those 77 days, but hasn’t found time to deliver on his promise to mobilize resources at the state and federal level to prevent further deaths.  Ten months in, Trump’s administration is a disgraceful series of broken promises on nearly every topic.” 

This latest stall by the […]

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On Vacation, Trump Is Failing To Combat The Opioid Crisis

American Bridge Vice President Shripal Shah released the following statement on Donald Trump’s vacation meeting about the opioid epidemic:

“More than 2,700 Americans are expected to die from opioid overdoses during Donald Trump’s 17-day vacation and a meeting at his golf course today will be of little comfort to the families and friends of the victims.  The administration’s actions speak louder than his words: since taking office, Trump has backed $800 billion in cuts to the largest payer of opioid treatment and his sham commission has twice failed to produce any strategy to combat this epidemic. What more does he need to hear about this crisis before he puts the golf clubs away and does his job?”

 

Trump’s Budget Included $800 Billion In Medicaid Cuts, The Largest Payer For Opioid Treatment

Medicaid Is The Largest Payer For Behavioral Health Treatment, Including Opioid Treatment, In The Nation. [United States Government Accountability Office, 2015]

Trump’s Budget Proposal Cut Over […]

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Trump’s Broken Opioid Promises Speak Louder Than Jeff Sessions’s Words

American Bridge Spokesperson Harrell Kirstein released the following statement after Jeff Sessions’s remarks in Columbus, Ohio, on the opioid epidemic:

“Within months of taking office, President Trump proposed massive cuts to the largest source opioid treatment in the country and tried to eliminate the Office of National Drug Control Policy, breaking campaign promises every step of the way.  Coming after this betrayal, Jeff Sessions’s words today are cheap and meaningless.  There is nothing this administration can say to make up for Trump abandoning the millions of Americans looking for support in the struggle against the opioid epidemic.”

Background on the massive cuts Trump’s has proposed to opioid treatment is below.  Additionally, Trump’s opioid commission has twice  failed to produce to a plan to fight substance abuse, and even Ohio’s Republican Governor Kasich called the Trumpcare funding to stem the opioid crisis “anemic,” noting “it’s like spitting in the ocean.”

Trump’s Budget Included […]

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Bridge Project Launches New Climate Accountability Project

American Bridge’s advocacy arm, Bridge Project, is launching a new climate change initiative today ahead of Congress’ August recess, focusing on the Trump administration’s policy changes and their devastating impact on our country’s economy. Digital ads, an aggressive petition campaign, and a new online hub to boost real time accountability will be at the forefront of this initiative. In addition to rapid response and in person tracking efforts, the latest research on the Trump administration’s dangerous agenda to erase key environmental protections and in-depth reports on climate related policy changes will be housed at www.climateundertrump.com, with state and local research available to grassroots advocates, members of the press, and the public.

“Climate change presents an economic problem as well as an environmental one, and we’re going to expose the dangers of Trump’s agenda,” said American Bridge President Jessica Mackler. “If President Trump continues to put our future at risk […]

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Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress are opening the floodgates for more Wall Street bailouts

American Bridge President Jessica Mackler released the following statement in advance of the House vote on the Financial CHOICE Act, previewing an upcoming digital ad campaign from Bridge Project: 

“Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress are selling out American families again – this time by opening the floodgates for more bailouts. Just one month after passing Trumpcare – which would deprive 23 million Americans of their health insurance in order to cut taxes for the rich – House Republicans are voting today on another key element of Donald Trump’s anti-middle class agenda: legislation that would gut Wall Street reforms put in place after 2008 to safeguard our economy from another financial crisis.

“Donald Trump attacked opponents in both parties for being ‘too close’ to the financial sector, yet his top economic advisers – including his Treasury secretary – now come from Wall Street banks. They’re clearly getting their money’s worth […]

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Paul Ryan Is Too Little, Too Late With Zika Virus House Bill

As House Republicans announce its $662 million Zika virus bill today, it falls short only ONE-THIRD of the $1.9 billion request of what the Center for Disease Control (CDC) needs to fight the global health emergency.

We are learning more information every day about the danger and spreading of the Zika virus beyond its effect on pregnant women but to the general population. And the CDC admits they don’t have the resources necessary to fight the mosquito-borne disease. President Obama has already transferred $589 million set aside for Ebola prevention to prepare for Zika, but now House Republicans want to raid more from that fund–still falling short of what CDC needs–to combat this impending public health disaster.

What is it going to take for Paul Ryan and the House Republicans to understand what’s at stake?

House Republicans Are Putting The Public At Risk By Failing To Act on Zika Virus
Health Officials Said […]

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