Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Battle Ground, made several misleading statements during the debate with Carolyn Long (“3rd District, first debate,” Aug. 9, The Columbian).
Herrera Beutler acknowledges that she voted more than 80 times to repeal the Affordable Care Act while at the same time noting that the Republican majority had no viable alternative. Are these the actions of a responsible public official? Taking away life-saving benefits from ordinary people with no idea what will replace them?
Moreover, despite the failure of the repeal of the ACA, the Trump administration is engaged daily in actions trying to undermine the ACA in the hopes that it will fail. Failure of the ACA will result in people being denied health insurance due to pre-existing conditions. Is that what Herrera Beutler and the congressional Republicans want for their constituents? Has the congresswoman done anything to thwart the actions of the Trump administration on this issue?
