As Democrats work to lower drug and health care costs, fight inflation, and reduce the deficit, Republicans are doing the exact opposite. Over the past couple days, GOP lawmakers have opposed providing veterans with health care, boosting American competitiveness against China, and protecting marriage equality. 

Yesterday, the majority of Senate Republicans voted against advancing the PACT Act. Multiple GOP lawmakers previously supported the legislation, only to pull their votes after Democrats struck a deal to bring down costs for American families. Republicans are willing to risk our veterans’ lives in defense of Big Pharma. 

The Hill: “Republican lawmakers blocked passage of a bill in the U.S. Senate Wednesday that expands healthcare coverage for military veterans who were exposed to toxins and burn pits during their service.”

POLITICO: “Mere hours after Chuck Schumer and Joe Manchin announced a climate and tax deal, the Senate failed to advance burn pits legislation to help veterans.”

It didn’t stop there. Today, 187 MAGA Republicans joined 32 of their Senate colleagues in opposing a bipartisan bill designed to bring manufacturing jobs back home and lower costs for hardworking American families. 

The Hill: “House Republican leadership is urging members of its conference to vote against a bill to bolster the domestic chip manufacturing industry and fund scientific research, a reversal from its position earlier in the day that comes hours after Senate Democrats struck a deal on a multibillion-dollar reconciliation package.”

Washington Post: “[The CHIPS Act] would provide $52 billion in subsidies to domestic semiconductor manufacturers… in a bid to strengthen the United States’ competitiveness and self-reliance in what is seen as a keystone industry for economic and national security.”

As if holding veterans and American jobs hostage wasn’t enough, the GOP continues to play political games with Americans’ constitutional rights. As Senate Republicans are contemplating whether to vote to codify federal protections for same-sex marriage, millions of Americans are living in fear that their rights could be stripped away. 

Vox: “Many Senate Republicans, rather than confront the substance of new legislation that would provide federal protections for same-sex marriage, are instead arguing that a vote on the bill is unnecessary.”

Washington Post: “The Respect for Marriage Act, a bill that would enshrine the right to same-sex and interracial marriage in federal law, is only four short pages long. Yet in the week since the House passed the measure on a bipartisan vote and Democratic leaders indicated they planned to put it on the Senate floor, few Republican senators have found the time to read it — or so they said Tuesday.”

Republicans turned their backs on veterans and the economy for the sake of saving China and Big Pharma, and they turned their backs on our constitutional rights for the sake of pushing their MAGA agenda. The GOP continues to make clear that as long as they have power they will keep America from moving forward, and that’s what is at stake come November.