DENVER: Responding to a hastily-scheduled press event by far-right freshman Rep. Gabe Evans defending his role in the passage last week of legislation that will take away access to health care and food assistance for thousands of Coloradans in Evans’ district, ProgressNow Colorado, the state’s largest multi-issue progressive advocacy organization, joined a coalition of community advocacy groups and residents at the Colorado State Capitol this morning to set the record straight.
“Without Medicaid, people die,” said ProgressNow Colorado executive director Sara Loflin. “Gabe Evans’ so-called ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ bill threatens the health coverage of nearly 1 million Coloradans and 200,000+ people in Gabe’ Evans District, including: children, seniors, and people with disabilities. Evans wants voters to believe that the people who will lose coverage don’t deserve health care, but thousands of Coloradans will fall through the cracks, and some of them will die as a result of Evans’ vote. Thousands more could lose access to care as health care providers are forced to close.”
“The Colorado General Assembly had to pass three bills this year protecting reproductive health care access for Coloradans because the Trump Administration keeps trying to take it away from us,” said Karen Middleton, President of Cobalt Advocates. “We must continue to act in the best interests of Coloradans, including the people of CD 8, regardless of what happens in Washington, DC.”
“Instead of fighting to preserve healthcare for Coloradans with disabilities, Representatives Gabe Evans and Jeff Hurd have instead decided to bankroll federal agencies that rip families apart, disappear activists, and enrich the owners of for-profit detention companies,” said Jen Samano, director of advocacy for ACLU Colorado. “Their votes are a profound betrayal to the health and safety of Coloradans and go against the values of their constituents.”
“Gabe Evans has the audacity to push massive tax cuts for Colorado’s 14 billionaires at the expense of thousands of his own constituents who will lose Medicaid and food assistance,” said Kathy White of the Colorado Fiscal Institute. “They’ve told him they didn’t vote for this — and he simply doesn’t care. Gabe Evans and the GOP have picked a side, and it’s not the side of working families. Gabe Evans doesn’t represent Colorado — he represents the rich and powerful. Rather than crowing from the steps of the state Capitol, he should be hanging his head in shame for his vote on this terrible bill.”
“The supporters of the federal bill are deeply misguided if they think it will do anything to address waste, fraud, and abuse,” said Chris deGruy Kennedy, President and CEO of the Bell Policy Center. “This bill has little to do with “efficiency” or even debt reduction. It has everything to do with shaming and blaming lower-income people to justify giving outrageous tax cuts to the wealthiest and corporations. Evans should be ashamed of himself for turning his back on his constituents — and his conscience. To the contrary, the bill increases administrative costs while taking dollars away from actual healthcare, stripping healthcare away from thousands of working Coloradans through new red tape, all to justify tax cuts that overwhelmingly benefit the rich.”
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