Things to Be Thankful For: Perdue’s Radical Agenda Too Outside the Mainstream to Pass — For Now

From ending pre-existing conditions coverage protections to handing corporations an even bigger tax break, Perdue’s agenda would hurt Georgians 

Atlanta — In the spirit of the season, Georgia Democrats highlighted some of the most harmful policies Senator David Perdue supports that — thankfully — are not law. Yet. 

Perdue’s dangerous agenda includes: 

• Gutting Protections for Pre-Existing Conditions Coverage. Perdue has voted repeatedly to repeal the health care law and rip coverage away from 22 million Americans — including more than 720,000 Georgians. His reckless votes would have also threatened care for over 1.8 million Georgians with pre-existing conditions while raising costs and worsening coverage across the board.

• Supporting the Lawsuit to End Pre-Existing Conditions Coverage Protections. Aside from his votes, Perdue “of course” supports litigation to do through the courts what Republicans couldn’t pass through Congress, backing a lawsuit to overturn the entire health care law. If Perdue’s lawsuit succeeds, it would take health care away from one million Georgians while kicking Georgians 26 and younger off their families’ coverage and ending the health care law’s protections for Georgians with pre-existing conditions.

• A Bigger Corporate Tax Giveaway. Despite already supporting a tax giveaway to powerful special interests and the richest 1%, Perdue wanted to go even further and provide an even bigger tax handout to large corporations than the $1 trillion giveaway already in the bill. And when asked point-blank if he would support delaying massive corporate tax breaks in order to provide greater relief to middle-class families, Perdue gave a clear answer: “Absolutely not.”

• Putting Social Security & Medicare At Risk. And after voting for deficit-busting tax breaks for the wealthy and well-connected that added nearly $2 trillion to the national debt, Perdue is now trying to put critical earned benefits programs like Social Security and Medicare on the chopping block in the name of paying off the debt he racked up giving tax breaks to his special interest cronies.

• Stripping Funds from Public Schools. Perdue’s reckless agenda includes his disastrous record on education, like his long-standing crusade to gut the Department of Education — slashing funding for Georgia schools and jeopardizing federal student loans and Pell Grants for Georgia students. He’s also continued to stand by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, despite her efforts to roll back protections for victims of scammer for-profit colleges, and consistently opposed efforts to let Americans refinance their student loans.

“It says a lot that some of the very things Georgians are thankful for — pre-existing conditions coverage, Social Security and Medicare — are exactly the types of policies Senator Perdue wants to undermine,” said Alex Floyd, spokesman for the Democratic Party of Georgia. “We know that Senator Perdue will not stop working to pass his dangerous agenda, and will hold him accountable and elect a senator who puts Georgians first.” 

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