Jaime Herrera Beutler to Answer for Neglecting Her Constituents at Today’s #WA03Debate
Time and time again, Herrera Beutler has prioritized the needs of her corporate donors over helping people in Southwest Washington
For Immediate Release | October 9, 2020
SEATTLE -- After refusing to debate her in 2018, Jaime Herrera Beutler will finally face off in a live debate with her Democratic challenger, Carolyn Long. Live-streamed by TVW at 2pm this afternoon and organized by the League of Women Voters, the debate is sure to feature Herrera Beutler’s continued attempts to run away from her record prioritizing the interests of corporate PACs that have given her more than $1.6M during her time in Congress.
Specifically, here’s the three most critical issues where Herrera Beutler has voted in favor of special interests at the expense of the needs of working families in Southwest Washington:
- Herrera Beutler has repeatedly voted to strip health care from hundreds of thousands of Washingtonians -- and is proud of it: Herrera Beutler has taken $90,000 from the health insurance industry while bragging that she voted “more than 80 times” to dismantle our health care system by repealing the Affordable Care Act without a plan to replace it. If the ACA were repealed, 654,000 Washingtonians would lose coverage, 3.1 million Washingtonians would lose protections for their pre-existing conditions, and our state would lose $4 billion in federal funding.
- Herrera Beutler’s claims about being bipartisan aren’t supported by her record: Flip-flopping on her attempt in 2016 to distance herself from the least popular president in a century, Herrera Beutler is now fully supporting Trump. And it’s not just her personal vote in this year’s election where she’s backing a president whose failed leadership on the pandemic has cost more than 210,000 American lives -- Herrera Beutler has voted with Trump 82% of the time in Congress and opposed his impeachment.
- Herrera Beutler lied about her “defining moment” in Congress voting for Trump’s 2017 tax cuts for the 1% and big corporations and future generations of Southwest Washingtonians will pay for her dishonesty: Despite falsely claiming to the Columbian editorial board that the federal deficit was declining prior to the pandemic, the tax cuts Herrera Beutler was so proud of voting for in 2017 have now blown a trillion dollar hole in our federal budget. Even prior to the pandemic, the Trump administration was threatening cuts to Medicare and Social Security to pay for their tax cuts to the same big corporations that have helped Herrera Beutler remain in Congress for the last decade.
“Working families and seniors in Southwest Washington deserve someone who will fight for them in Congress during this crisis -- not someone who will keep prioritizing corporate interests during the worst economic crisis in a generation,” said Tina Podlodowski, Chair of the Washington State Democratic Party. “Carolyn Long is that leader, and I’m confident she’ll show in today’s debate why she’s the fierce advocate Southwest Washington needs.”
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Will Casey|Communications Director (he / him / his)
Washington State Democrats|615 2nd Ave., Suite 580, Seattle, WA 98104
Office|206.583.0664 Ext. 121
