Editor’s Note: Ady Barkan is co-director of the Fed Up campaign, an initiative of the Center for Popular Democracy. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author. View more opinion articles on CNN.
It’s getting harder to be shocked in the Trump era. But I was recently aghast at the news that the Trump administration was proposing yet another round of tax breaks for rich people – more than $100 billion worth, which would make Republican proposals to slash Medicaid and Medicare even more probable.
As a person living with a chronic illness, I know that programs like these are literally keeping people like me alive – and we cannot continue to gut them to shift even more money to the very rich.
In 2016, I was diagnosed with the life-threatening disease ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis). The news shook me and my family to our core. You never think something like this can happen to you, but I remain hopeful because I am fighting for a cause that is bigger than me. And thanks to the Affordable Care Act, and the Medicaid expansion that came with it, I haven’t gone bankrupt as I fight to stay alive.
But Republicans continue to chip away at these hard-won, life-saving gains. When they passed their first tax cut, they made it clear that they cared more about the wealthiest 1% than about the rest of America, including sick people like me.
This is why November’s midterm elections are so important, and why I’m using my platform to support candidates who embrace economic policies that will further help working families that struggle with access to quality, affordable health care.
I’m fighting because I know my son would want me to. I fight because I don’t want sons and daughters across the country to suffer for the mistakes we are making with the economy and with the way we care for the most vulnerable.
We must discuss these issues because it is influencing public policy today. While huge banks have posted record profits and companies have engaged in record stock buybacks for shareholders, workers’ wages have remained stagnant or in decline, while insurance premiums have skyrocketed. In some states, insurance rates could go up double digits – and for me, and many other Americans, these increases can be the difference between having access to lifesaving medical care or not.
In 2017, as Republicans in the Senate were about to pass their disastrous tax bill, I confronted Sen. Jeff Flake from Arizona on a plane. I pleaded with him to vote his conscience and oppose the Republican tax plan bill. He still supported it.
Almost a year later, we’re grasping the reality of the tax bill on the lives of everyday Americans. President Trump and Republicans in Congress said that the tax bill would improve the lives of working families, but recall that after 2025 – that’s in seven years – all individual tax cuts are set to expire. At the same time, corporate rate cuts become permanent under the bill.
It’s on us to hold every single member of Congress who voted for this tax bill accountable. So even though I can no longer walk and find it increasingly hard to speak, I set out on my #BeAHero Tour a month ago to do just that.
There’s nothing I can do to change my diagnosis, and there’s nothing that thousands of families across the country can do about theirs. But we must demand that our representatives answer our questions and are held accountable for their votes. It’s getting harder and harder for me to keep speaking out, and so I hope that you’ll be my voice and keep on fighting when I no longer can.
