Health care protests heat up outside Rubio office in Orlando
The weekly protests outsideU. Sen. MarcoRubio’s office in Orlando struck a more urgent tone Tuesday, as liberal groups rallied against the Senate Republican health care bill.
“No matter how much you’ve called your legislators, no matter how hard you’ve been fighting, what you do now is what matters most,” organizer Anna Eskamani said to the gathering of about 50 people in downtown Orlando.
A vote on the bill, unveiled last week, has been postponed by Republican leadership until after the July 4 recess. It would increase the number of people in the U.S. without health coverage by 22 million and push up medical costs for millions of other poor and sick Americans, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Office.
Republican senators, including several moderates and conservatives who said they would vote against the bill as written, were also called by President Donald Trump to the White House for a meeting.
Rubio had said he would vote for amotion to proceed with debate, but beyond that, he said he would decide howto vote on the final bill based on howit impacts Florida.
TheCBOscorewas “a national estimate based on a worst-case scenario and is also dependenton decisions states make,” Rubio said Tuesday in a Facebook Live video.
“These decisions have to be made by elected people in each of these states, and that would be true of Florida aswell,” he said.
The weekly protests, organized in part by liberal groups For Florida’s Future Budget and Indivisible Central Florida, have ebbed and flowed in terms of attendance since the first rally three days before Trump’s inauguration in January.
“It seems every Tuesday there’s a new terrible piece of legislation or executive order we’re here to fight against,” said Blake Williams, ofFor OurFuture, who also announced a “diein” against the bill 4 p.m. Wednesday outside the Rubio office on Church Street.
RashaMubarak, regional director of the Council on American-Islamic Relationscriticized the health care bill aswell as Trump’s travel ban against visitors from seven majoritycountries, which was partially implemented by the Supreme Court onMonday.
Eskamani, a spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida, decried the proposed drawdown of Medicaid funding in the bill, which would also make some required Medicaid benefits optional.
“Women are impacted to amuchgreater extent, especially in Florida, where women are disproportionally [on] Medicaid,” Eskamani said. “If more people lose access to health care, more people will die.”
Many rallygoers held signs reading, “Hey Marco, Trumpcare is Mean” — referring to Trump’s self-acknowledged description of the House health bill — “Save our health care, call Marco Rubio” and “Did you forget? We are your constituents.”
Rubio said he has spoken with spoke with Gov. Rick Scott, state House Speaker Richard Corcoran and state Senate President Joe Negron about the draft bill.
Associated Press contributed.