A New York congresswoman says the vote in the Republican-controlled U.S. House to gut the Affordable Care Act is a vote for putting insurance companies back in charge and for a government shutdown.
Democratic Congresswoman Nita Lowey says defunding the Affordable Care Act would hurt senior citizens in her 17th district, which includes most of northern and central Westchester County and all of Rockland County. She says the GOP plan would roll back Medicare benefits and force senior citizens to pay more for prescription drugs. Lowey, the senior Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, spoke Wednesday at a senior center in Westchester, slamming Republicans for setting the country down a path to a government shutdown October 1. Her call comes as the Senate Wednesday unanimously voted to advance a measure that would avert a partial government shutdown. The vote followed a close to 24-hour speech on the Senate floor by Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz, who supports defunding President Obama’s health care act.
