West Virginia GOP Senator Shelly Moore Capito is adding insult to injury after she launched a blistering attack on her own party in the wake of its latest failure to get a healthcare bill passed.
Lashing out at the Senate’s plan to repeal Obamacare, Capito released a statement, which she later posted to Twitter, saying, “I did not come to Washington to hurt people.”
“For months, I have expressed reservations about the direction of the bill to repeal and replace Obamacare,” Capito said in her statement. “I have serious concerns about how we continue to provide affordable care to those who have benefitted from West Virginia’s decision to expand Medicaid, especially in light of the growing opioid crisis.”
According to Capito, all the Senate’s healthcare proposals so far have failed to address her concerns.
“My position on this issue has been driven by its impact on West Virginians,” she continued. “With that in mind, I cannot vote to repeal Obamacare without a replacement plan that addresses my concerns and the needs of West Virginians.”
My latest statement on the Senate health care bill & planned vote to repeal Obamacare: pic.twitter.com/yAVIxgptCu
— Shelley Moore Capito (@SenCapito) July 18, 2017
From Vox‘s Jeff Stein:
But perhaps even more consequential than Capito coming out against “clean repeal” of Obamacare is her strident, moral condemnation of the bill’s impacts on her state’s Medicaid patients — and what that suggests about the bill’s possible path forward.
During an appearance on MSNBC’s Morning Joe in June, Capito echoed a similar sentiment about the Senate’s repeal plan:
Featured image via screen grab
