ICYMI: Congresswoman Linda Sánchez Fights for Health Care and Latino Representation on Democrats’ Daily Blueprint Arrow

In case you missed it, Congresswoman Linda Sánchez (D-CA) appeared on the Democrats' Daily Blueprint today to discuss the ongoing Republican government shutdown and Republicans' refusal to bring down the cost of health care for Americans. In addition, she highlighted her work to elect more Latinos to Congress as chairwoman of BOLD PAC, the political arm of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, and talked about her role as the coach of the Democratic team for the annual Congressional Baseball Game.

WATCH

You can find highlights from the conversation below:

On the Democratic fight to bring down the high costs of health care:

Congresswoman Sánchez: "I voted for the original Affordable Care Act. I had just given birth to my son, [and] hospital bills are real. At the time, we knew that this was going to be a way to improve access for millions of Americans who just can't afford health care coverage. In the big - I call it the big, steaming pile of crap bill - that the Republicans passed, they essentially raided health care to pay for tax cuts for millionaires. The [cuts] mean that 15 million Americans are going to lose their health care coverage. And with their refusal to renew the ACA subsidies, everybody is going to see their health care premiums rise. On average, about 114%. I don't know how many people can afford to pay double for their healthcare coverage, but I certainly can't.

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"So I've been hearing from my constituents: 'We want you to stand firm, health care is important to people.' It is literally life or death. And so this is the hill that we are standing and fighting on, and I believe the majority of the American public understands that, and they're with us."

On Republicans who claim that they are the party of the working class while cutting essential safety net programs:

Congresswoman Sánchez: "It's really twisted the way that Republicans have hijacked the narrative that somehow they're good for the working class, because if you look at every single one of their policies, they all harm working families that are just trying to get by. As a former union member and a labor leader, we collectively bargained so that folks would have some financial security when they retire, and they would have health coverage in case they get injured on the job.

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"Democrats have done so many great things in the health care space: negotiating drug prices for Medicare, which we've always done with the VA, and until the Democrats controlled Washington, we couldn't get that done because Republicans would block it. Now we negotiate direct prices in Medicare. Lowering the cost of insulin to $35 a month for families that had been paying more than $200 a month for insulin. Those are very real savings. It's lifesaving.

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"Things are more expensive. [Trump] promised that they wouldn't be, they are. He promised that he was going to negotiate these great trade deals. He hasn't. We are looking at American families who are struggling, not being able to sustain this. It's not sustainable in the long run."

On her work to elect more Latinos and Latinas to Congress amid Trump's attacks on the Hispanic community:

Congresswoman Sánchez: "There has never been a more dire time and need for more Hispanic voices at the table and policymaking, because the ICE raids in Los Angeles didn't just rip families apart, didn't just get U.S. citizens caught up in these unlawful, and oftentimes, excessive force, sweeps. It has hurt small businesses. It has dampened the economy. It has made people deathly afraid to leave their homes - even U.S. citizens. I know friends of mine that look brown - because they are brown - that carry their passports with them everywhere, because they're terrified that ICE is going to stop them. So what BOLD PAC does, our humble mission, is to try to increase the diversity of our representation in Congress, to make Congress look like the America that elects them, right? And to that end, we recruit candidates, we help provide them with advice, assistance, financial support, so that they can run. Many of them are not millionaires, they can't self-fund their own candidates. We help them raise money so that they can be successful."