Michigan Families For Fair Care Launches in MI-07 To Hold Representative Tom Barrett Accountable For Disregarding Michigan’s Working Class
Last night, Michigan Families for Fair Care launched its advocacy efforts in Michigan’s 7th Congressional District.. The launch focused on a community conversation to hold Representative Tom Barrett accountable for voting to cut vital programs like Medicaid in order to fund the Trump administration’s planned tax cuts for billionaires at the expense of his constituents.
The event featured a panel discussion from Eaton County Commissioner Brandon Haskell, and Ingham County residents Susan Anderson and Sheila Kniffin. The conversation focused on the devastating impacts cuts to Medicaid, SNAP benefits, and Social Security would have on vulnerable Michigan families, which included touching personal stories from the speakers.
“Representative Barrett needs to know that his district will hold him accountable for his votes. Michiganders are paying attention to the threats Medicaid is facing,” said Ingham County Resident Susan Anderson. “Thousands of families like mine would be devastated if access to affordable, and reliable, health care were suddenly ripped away from us. Today we are urging Representative Barrett to think of the people he is representing and not just the billionaires that stand to benefit from the Trump administration’s agenda.”
Michiganders gathered to hear from local elected officials and local residents about Representative Barrett’s recent decisions, like setting the table for the Republicans in Congress’ plan to cut programs like Medicaid to fund tax cuts for the wealthy.
“Congressman Tom Barrett’s support of tariffs is putting an undue burden on working families all over Michigan, and on fixed-income households like mine,”said Ingham County Resident Sheila Kniffin. “Every day people in this state try their best to be frugal and make enough money to put food on the table and a roof over their heads, but our work may not be enough with the dysfunctional policies coming out of Washington. Tom . Barrett cannot vote to raise costs and cut Medicaid while also saying he is working for the people of his district. It is beyond irresponsible to constantly reward billionaires off the backs of real taxpayers.”
Congressman Tom Barrett has also defended policies like Trump’s tariff war against the world, which placed Michigan businesses in danger and raised prices nationwide. If Barrett continues to follow through with the administration’s plan, over 131,000 people in his district alone would be at risk of losing their health care, not counting the millions of Michiganders statewide who would also be affected.
“Republicans in Congress are currently planning to slash hundreds of billions of dollars from Medicaid, and expect Michiganders to just accept that as their reality. Last fall, that is not what Representative Tom Barrett promised to do in Washington,” said Eaton County Commissioner Brandon Haskell. “We are here to tell Congressman Barrett that if he wants to bankroll billionaires by cutting our health care or stripping away food programs, he needs to think again. We are real people, not just numbers in a spreadsheet. Too many families are struggling for us to remain silent on this issue. As a project manager in the auto industry I’m seeing firsthand the damage that reckless policy is having in our community already. We are telling Congressman Tom Barrett we are not going to take this lying down, and if he is looking for a fight, he’s going to find one.”
About Michigan Families for Fair Care
Michigan Families for Fair Care is a 501c(4) issue advocacy campaign devoted to educating the residents of Michigan’s 7th and 10th Congressional Districts on important economic issues and the impact of Congressmen John James and Tom Barrett’s votes in Congress.
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