Udall, Heinrich Join Senate Democrats in Calling on President Trump to Immediately Rescind his Executive Order that Undermined the Affordable Care Act

WASHINGTON D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) joined Senate Democrats in urging President Trump and his administration to abandon their efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and instead work in a bipartisan fashion to improve the law and lower the costs of health care for all Americans. In a letter signed by 44 Senate Democrats, they also requested – as a first step – that the Trump administration rescind the executive order signed on Jan. 20, which severely undermined the ACA and sparked the efforts to unravel the law, undermining the health care system and increasing costs, hurting patients, providers and families. They also expressed concern about Trump’s recent statement that it would be a good thing to make the ACA “explode,” despite the fact that would mean hurting hundreds of thousands of New Mexicans and millions of Americans. 

The full text of letter from Senate Democrats can be found below.

Dear President Trump:

We respectfully request that you abandon your efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and undermine the U.S. health care system so that we can work together to improve the law and lower the cost of health care for all Americans.

To do that, your Administration must commit to putting an end to all efforts to unravel the ACA, undermine the health care system, increase costs, or hurt patients, providers and families. As a first step, we request that you rescind your ACA executive order signed on January 20th.

While we would welcome your sincere interest in bipartisan work to improve quality, lower costs, and expand coverage, we are concerned by your recent statement indicating it would be a good thing to make the ACA “explode,” which would hurt millions of Americans. Instead, we urge you to use your executive authority to support a stable, competitive insurance marketplace. 

Members of the Democratic caucus remain ready and willing to work with you on policies that would improve the stability of the individual insurance market. We ask that you begin the work of improving health care for millions of Americans by rescinding your January 20th executive order.

Sincerely,

Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.)

Michael Bennet (D-Colo.)

Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.)

Cory Booker (D-N.J.)

Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio)

Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.)

Ben Cardin (D-Md.)

Thomas Carper (D-Del.)

Robert Casey (D-Pa.)

Chris Coons (D-Del.)

Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.)

Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.)

Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.)

Richard Durbin (D-Ill.)

Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.)

Al Franken (D-Minn.)

Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.)

Kamala Harris (D-Calif.)

Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.)

Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.)

Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii)

Tim Kaine (D-Va.)

Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.)

Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.)

Claire McCaskill (D-Missouri)

Edward Markey (D-Mass.)

Robert Menendez (D-N.J.)

Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.)

Chris Murphy (D-Conn.)

Patty Murray (D-Wash.)

Bill Nelson (D-Fla.)

Gary Peters (D-Mich.)

Jack Reed (D-R.I.)

Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)

Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii)         

Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.)

Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.)

Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.)

Tom Udall (D-N.M.)

Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.)

Mark Warner (D-Va.)

Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.)

Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.)

Ron Wyden (D-Ore.)