In the News

After the House voted Thursday to narrowly approve a Republican-drafted bill that would eliminate many of the provisions of the Affordable Care Act, KQED collected statements made by California’s members of Congress explaining why they voted the way they did.

We gathered comments made via social media and on the floor of the House, as well as from press releases sent out by each member’s office. We included links to their Twitter and Facebook pages where you can see some of their statements,  plus additional comments they’ve made.

For California’s congressional representatives, the vote split along party lines: all 14 Republicans voted in support of the bill; all 38 Democrats against (an additional seat remains vacant after Xavier Becerra was named the state’s attorney general). We have included a searchable table of the votes at the end of this post.

The House bill now moves to the Senate, where its fate is far from certain.

Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara, District 24)

“In order to get their harmful legislation passed, the House Majority took a bill that leaves 24 million Americans without health insurance — and made it even worse. The AHCA leaves Central Coast families with fewer protections, allowing insurers to make coverage prohibitively expensive for people with pre-existing conditions. Millions more will see their premiums and out-of-pocket costs increase 25% on average, with an added ‘Age Tax’ imposed on Americans over fifty.

It is unacceptable for the House Majority to have forced a vote on legislation that will impact millions of lives without knowing its full cost or its harmful effects. I hope that my colleagues in the Senate will put the health of the American people over politics, and reject this misguided legislation.”