Last night, the U.S. House of Representatives passed Donald Trump’s proposed budget by two votes. Colorado Congressman Gabe Evans (R-CO) cast a deciding ‘yes’ vote, while Brittany Pettersen (D-CO) voted no.
Evans then took to Facebook Live and attempted to “explain” his vote and blamed his own state for Medicaid cuts. In Evans’ district alone, at least 125,600 individuals under the age of 65 receive MEDICAID/CHIP benefits. Overall, about 1.3 million Coloradans are enrolled in Medicaid and CHP+, including 1 in 6 children and 10% of seniors.
Evans voted to require the House Energy and Commerce Committee (which oversees Medicaid) to make at least $880 billion in cuts. On the same day, Trump hailed Elon Musk’s efforts to chainsaw the employment of hundreds of thousands of United States citizens, while adding another $2 billion in contracts for his own companies.
Colorado watched as Evans served as a Trump ‘yes’ man while Pettersen stood up for Colorado families, children, veterans, and seniors by voting ‘no.’
Trump’s Republicans’ own policy documents are pushing to kick Americans off of Medicaid by constricting eligibility requirements. Colorado’s Shaun Boyd reported this week that the real problem with Medicaid is seniors living in nursing facilities and those requiring the most care (or less than 9%). So, when Gabe Evans, says it’s the undocumented immigrants, he really means, it’s the approximately 15,000 children and 14,000 seniors who need care. Or he may mean, the 40,000 households living in poverty in his district.
Finally, the tiresome talking point of “reducing fraud and waste,” does not pass the smell test when Trump has mass fired department inspectors general in January – whose job has been to identify fraud and waste independently.
When Evans claimed that he voted for this budget because of Colorado’s undocumented immigrants, what he really means is that Colorado spends too much on households making less than $56,000 per year. According to a study by the Economic Policy Institute, Colorado households making less than $30,000 stand to lose about $14,000 of that income due to Medicaid cuts.
Let’s compare Evans to Pettersen – whose baby is just four weeks old – who voted ‘no.’ As Pettersen said from the floor, this budget proposal is about annihilating health care for kids and seniors – hourly workers who can’t afford the average $550+ per month per person for private health insurance. As she said, “When you don’t have access to healthcare, you show up in the ER.”
Pettersen stood up for working Colorado families, seniors, children, and benefits last night with her 4-week-old in her arms. The Trump budget will also cut SNAP benefits, which provide food for seniors, veterans, and children. About 585,000 Coloradans receive SNAP benefits (or food assistance), and more than 64% of recipients are families with children.
Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson’s political polling instructed Republicans like Evans to say this was about fraud and waste. I would urge Evans to sit down with the family of a bus driver or grocery store worker and explain to them his view that he considers primary health care and food programs for their children to be government fraud and waste. Call Pettersen’s office now at (202) 225-2645 to thank her for standing up for working families. Then call Evans’s office at (202) 225-5625, and let him know what you think of his just-go-with-it attitude that puts over 125,000 of his own constituents at risk.
Sara Loflin is the Executive Director of ProgressNow Colorado and former Mayor Pro Tem of Erie.
