Today Katherine Clark urged extremist Republicans to come to the table to avert a government shutdown.
"Extremist Republicans are holding our government hostage yet again so they can continue their goal of stopping 30 million Americans from obtaining health insurance," Clark said.
Pushing to defund Obamacare is the latest move by Republicans in Congress to put their right-wing agenda ahead of making progress for our families and our communities.
"Republicans have already blocked pay equity, forced sequestration cuts, obstructed efforts to address climate change, and refused to take action on gun violence," said Clark, a Democratic state senator from Melrose. "I'm going to Congress to stand up to the extremists putting politics ahead of progress."
In Congress, Clark will continue her work for the issues families talk about around their kitchen tables: securing pay equity for women, investing in early childhood education, increasing the minimum wage, and reducing the epidemic of gun violence.
"As we approach this looming shutdown, we need to resolve this crisis but we cannot compromise our progressive values," said Clark, who outlined her priorities for the Fifth Congressional District in her Pledge to Women and Families. "We need to focus on taking action to improve our communities."
Defunding the Affordable Care Act means letting insurance companies discriminate against women, deny coverage for people with pre-existing illnesses, and obstruct 30 million people trying to get health insurance. The extremist Republican tactic of shutting down the government to achieve that goal will mean seniors could see a delay in receiving their Social Security checks, children could lose Head Start early childhood education, troops will fight without pay, and workers trying to find a job could miss their unemployment payments.
"It's disappointing that in the same month Republicans voted to take food out of the mouths of hungry kids, they're willing to fold up government operations so they can stop 30 million Americans from obtaining health insurance," Clark said.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT