For Immediate Release: Capito Contradicts Herself When It Comes To Miners, West Virginians

[Attachment]

For Immediate Release:

January 6, 2017

Contact: Brittni McGuire, [e-mail], 304-342-6606

Capito Contradicts Herself When It Comes To Miners, West Virginians

Senator Shelley Moore Capito has a long track record of contradicting herself when it comes to the betterment of West Virginia and the well being of our fellow Mountaineers. Capito's claims of fighting for West Virginians that include veterans, coal miners, retirees, and families just aren't true. If Capito truly cared about these people why is she on the frontline of the fight to take their health insurance away?

GOP Congress wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act that will strip over 172,000 West Virginians of their health insurance coverage and West Virginia will lose $840 million funding that provides health care for less fortunate, low income families. Repealing ACA will not only target seniors, veterans and families that include 68,000 West Virginians that newly obtained Medicaid and another 109,219 who were already qualified, it will make it nearly impossible for miners to receive black lung benefits.

'Senator Capito will scream from the rooftops claiming to support our miners, seniors, veterans and families yet when it's time to show it, she does the opposite. So you tell me what her priorities really are,' said Belinda Biafore, WVDP Chair. 'Newly elected GOP Congress and President-Elect campaigned on a bunch of lies and their first action will be to strip nearly 30 million people nationally of their health care coverage. It's unreal. We will continue to do the right thing by the people of West Virginia and stand up for their health care. It's that simple.'

Senator Joe Manchin is against the repeal and stripping hundreds of thousands of West Virginians of their health care. He told the Charleston Gazette-Mail, 'They're about ready to throw the baby out with the bathwater and that just doesn't make any sense to me at all.'

Manchin is urging Congress to work together to repair the law, not repeal it. One of his biggest concerns is the difficulty that miners will have getting black lung coverage without the law.

'Senator Manchin always has and always will fight for what's right for the people of West Virginia,' said Biafore. 'Hundreds of thousands of West Virginians have health insurance thanks to the law and we cannot afford to put our own at risk for extreme political gestures from the Senator Capito and the GOP.'

###