NEW VIDEO: Murray Highlights How *Republican* States Will be Hit Hardest By MAGA Health Care Hike When Open Enrollment Begins Saturday; Lays Out State of Play on Health Care & SNAP

Murray responds to absurd Dr. Oz lie: "Republicans have no plan to stop the MAGA health care hike. The only idea they have seems to be to lie and pretend it is just going to cost families $13 extra next year. I mean, go back home and try that with your constituents! They will shout you out of the room!"

More than three-quarters of the people who rely on ACA tax credits for health insurance live in red states

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Washington, D.C. - Ahead of the start of open enrollment nationwide tomorrow, Saturday November 1^st, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA)-Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee and a senior member and former chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee-released a new video message on how 22 million Americans will see massive price hikes when they begin shopping online for health insurance coverage on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) exchange marketplaces tomorrow, whether on Washington Healthplanfinder or the national HealthCare.gov site.

Senator Murray called out Republicans for causing a "MAGA health care hike" and highlighted how Republicans' refusal to extend the ACA enhanced premium tax credits-the reason prices are skyrocketing-is going to hurt people in Republican states harder than anywhere else. Among other proof points, Murray pointed out that 80 percent of the funding for the ACA tax credits that Republicans refuse to save goes to states Trump won.

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Senator Murray has been warning nonstop, every day, for weeks about how Republicans' refusal to save the ACA enhanced premium tax credits will cause premiums to explode-and how the harm will be felt most in states that voted for Trump. She has forcefully warned that the 10 states facing the largest premium hikes are red states, and she took her case directly to Idahoans and Montanans in separate press calls in recent weeks.

Open enrollment in Washington state and nationwide begins this Saturday, November 1^st. Last week, Washington state's ACA marketplace, Washington Healthplanfinder, opened its "window shopping" period, allowing Washingtonians to look at plans for next year-and most are seeing dramatic increases in their premiums thanks to Republican inaction. On average, premiums for ACA plans in Washington state are spiking by 21 percent. Nationwide, 22 million Americans who buy health care through the ACA exchanges will see their health care costs skyrocket next year without the tax credits, premiums are more than doubling on average, and these higher costs will push 4.8 million people off their health coverage over the next decade. A Washington-state specific fact sheet on the ACA tax credits is HERE.

In the video message (TIMESTAMP: 0:52), Senator Murray also lays out how Republicans have callously decided to cut off SNAP benefits for 42 million Americans beginning November 1^st, saying:

"Let's be clear: this weekend, SNAP benefits will run dry. Not because there is no money left to keep families fed, but because Trump is choosing not to tap contingency funds. He is choosing to let kids go hungry. It's also not because Congress can't possibly reach an agreement to fund SNAP. There is a Republican bill specifically to keep SNAP going that we could pass, no problem. In fact, there is a Republican bill with fourteen Republican cosponsors to keep SNAP going. But the Republican leader won't even hold a vote on it. He is sending everyone home rather than hold a vote on a bill he knows will pass. Now, keep in mind: he's happy to vote 14 times on a bill he knows won't pass. But he won't vote once on a bill he knows will pass. Someone explain that to me. Someone explain that to folks back home-who are going to go hungry because of the Republican Leader's decision."

This week, U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) introduced legislation to ensure SNAP funding does not run dry-the bill has Democratic support and 10 Republican cosponsors, and as Murray notes, Republican Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) chose to send the Senate home rather than hold a vote on the bill-which would have passed. In addition, Democrats introduced and tried to pass this week a separate bill to ensure continued funding for both SNAP and WIC-but Leader Thune blocked it.

Meanwhile, President Trump has outright refused to tap billions of dollars in the SNAP contingency fund to pay out November benefits-ignoring the law, bipartisan calls to tap the contingency fund to disburse benefits, and USDA's own September 30^th shutdown contingency plan. The September document makes clear the SNAP contingency fund not only can be used to keep SNAP running, but that it was the Department's plan to do just that before Trump inexplicably reversed course and decided to let 42 million Americans go hungry this month. Yesterday, Politico reported that a federal judge appeared likely to rule in favor of a lawsuit brought by Democratic states arguing that the Trump administration must use emergency funds to fund SNAP benefits in November. U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani said in part: "It's hard for me to understand how this isn't an emergency when there's no money and a lot of people need their SNAP benefits."

Senator Murray briefly relied on food stamps as a child and has always fought to fully fund SNAP benefits, and she forcefully opposed Republicans when they made the largest cut to SNAP in history this summer-kicking roughly 1 million kids off their SNAP benefits or substantially cutting them in their Big Ugly Bill.

A full transcript of Senator Murray's remarks in the video message is below:

"This weekend, 22 million people are going to see their premiums skyrocket when open enrollment begins. Some will double. Some will triple. Some will quadruple, and even worse.

"But Republicans don't want to talk about that. They haven't wanted to talk about it all year long. Never mind the fact that 80 percent of this funding goes to states Trump won. Never mind the fact that the biggest price hikes are all in Republican states.

"And make no mistake, this is the MAGA health care hike. Not just because Republicans are causing it-though they are-but because this price hike is going to hit MAGA states harder than anyone.

"And yet, even our most MAGA Senators have done nothing about this all year. They were too busy shoveling tax breaks at billionaires!

"Also, let's be clear: this weekend, SNAP benefits will run dry. Not because there is no money left to keep families fed, but because Trump is choosing not to tap contingency funds. He is choosing to let kids go hungry.

"It's also not because Congress can't possibly reach an agreement to fund SNAP. There is a Republican bill specifically to keep SNAP going that we could pass, no problem. In fact, there is a Republican bill with fourteen Republican cosponsors to keep SNAP going.

"But the Republican leader won't even hold a vote on it. He is sending everyone home rather than hold a vote on a bill he knows will pass. Now, keep in mind: he's happy to vote 14 times on a bill he knows won't pass. But he won't vote once on a bill he knows will pass.

"Someone explain that to me. Someone explain that to folks back home who are going to go hungry because of the Republican Leader's decision. And then, can someone explain to me why Republicans have refused, all year long, to talk about health care tax credits that overwhelmingly help Republican states?

"I just cannot get over, I just cannot understand, how Democrats are the only ones fighting to save these health care tax credits, even as Trump states are the ones facing the worst of the crisis to come.

"Instead, we have Dr. Oz trying to say it's going to be just a $13 dollar increase. Do you think that is going to fool families? There is a woman in Tennessee whose premium is going to go from $10 a month to over $1,000 a month-and she is not alone. Do Republicans think they can convince her $1,000 is $13?

"I know when it comes to helping billionaires, Republicans are happy to use magic math and say trillions in tax breaks are free-but these families live in the real world. Their premiums are really jumping by hundreds, even thousands, of dollars a month.

"That is not a theory. That is not spin. They are window shopping right now. They are seeing the price hikes in real time. And come Saturday, when Open Enrollment begins, those sky high, unaffordable prices are going to become a reality. And not just for the 220,000 people back in Washington state I am fighting for every single day.

"The MAGA health care hike is going to hit nearly half a million people in Alabama, more than half a million in Ohio, and more than 600,000 people in South Carolina and Tennessee.

"The MAGA health care hike is going to hit nearly four million people in Texas, and over four million people in Florida. But all Republicans have to say is 'wait' and 'later.'

"Republicans should be begging us to stop the MAGA health care hike. They should be coming to us with their own plans to stop the MAGA health care hike. But they have been silent all year.

"And what are they saying now? Some Republicans arguing it's not their problem because they never wanted to lower health care costs in the first place. Some Republicans are saying they still wish we repealed Obamacare.

"I even heard one Republican saying they want to bring back high-risk pools. You know what that means? That means gutting the protections for people with pre-existing conditions. 'You have cancer? Well, no health insurance for you.'

"Families are about to see premiums double, or worse, and every Republican idea I've heard so far is just, 'What if we made the problem worse?' And mind you, none of these ideas-bad, awful ideas-would actually do a single thing to stop the price hikes that are going into effect Saturday.

"The fact of the matter is: Republicans have no plan to stop the MAGA health care hike. The only idea they have seems to be to lie and pretend it is just going to cost families $13 extra next year. I mean, go back home and try that with your constituents! They will shout you out of the room. $13 dollars? The gall.

"I truly could not be more frustrated. I truly cannot understand why Democrats can sit at the table all year long, asking to stop this MAGA health care price hike, and Republicans would never even give us the time of day.

"Republicans would literally rather shut down the government than stop these premium hikes. And even now, the only thing they will say is 'later,' even when later is too late.

"Every day this drags on, the damage gets worse. There is not a second to waste. There has never been a second to waste. Open enrollment is all but here. Price hikes are all but locked in.

"From start to finish, Democrats have been at the table, and we still are not going anywhere. But from start to finish, Republicans have been missing in action. And what do they want to do now? Send us all home and ignore the train as it crashes in front of them. It's disgraceful. And they should be ashamed.

"And they should know families will not forget this, because they are going to be paying the cost of the MAGA health care hike. Every. Single. Month."

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