Rep. Kevin Cramer’s use of taxpayer dollars to advance political career requires ethics probe

(BISMARCK, ND) – Today, the North Dakota Democratic-NPL requested the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) investigate Representative Kevin Cramer for using taxpayer-funded Congressional resources to further his potential U.S. Senate campaign.

The OCE is a non-partisan, independent body that oversees allegations of misconduct against members of Congress. Congressman Cramer, who habitually skirts the lines of ethical behavior – including not only routinely paying himself but also his family members and their businesses more than $350,000 over the years from his campaign account – last year voted behind closed doors to gut the OCE and remove Congress from any independent oversight that could hold him accountable for the behavior he’s demonstrated. 
 
By tweeting about campaign polling from his Congressional Twitter account – which is supported by North Dakota taxpayer dollars – Congressman Cramer clearly violated House ethics rules:

“Congressman Cramer has a clear pattern of unethical behavior – ranging from paying himself to essentially running a family business through his campaign committee – but now he’s taken his swampy behavior to a whole new level by using taxpayer dollars to boost his own campaign,” said Democratic-NPL executive director Scott McNeil. “To hold Congressman Cramer accountable for his misuse of taxpayer dollars, the non-partisan, independent Office of Congressional Ethics needs to get to the bottom of just how excessively Congressman Cramer disrespected hard-working North Dakota taxpayers by using the Congressional office they fund for his own political gain.”
 
Text of the letter to the Office of Congressional Ethics and legal analysis can be found HERE and below.

Details on Congressman Cramer paying himself and his family more than $350,000 from his political campaign can also be found below.  

Rep. Cramer fumbles three times on the GOP tax bill

(BISMARCK, ND) – If the Republican tax bill was a football, Congressman Kevin Cramer fumbled it right on the goal line yesterday. Then he fumbled twice more for good measure.

First: Congressional reporter Matt Fuller asked Cramer about the new tax brackets that would be created in the GOP tax bill. Cramer couldn’t name them. Of course, that didn’t stop Cramer from voting for the bill just a few hours later.

“If Congressman Cramer doesn’t know the basic details of his own tax bill, how can he possibly understand how this bill will impact North Dakota taxpayers?” asked Democratic-NPL executive director Scott McNeil. “The answer is: He can’t. For Congressman Cramer, this wasn’t about helping North Dakotans get ahead—it was about political survival.”

Then: Following his vote to provide massive tax cuts for big corporations at the expense of working families, Cramer issued a statement with a widely debunked claim that “70,000 pages of convoluted tax code will be simplified to the point where most individuals will be able to fill out their taxes on a post card.”

Even Fox News doesn’t buy what Cramer is selling: “…will most Americans really be able to file their taxes on a half sheet of paper? Many professional tax preparers say no.”

Other major news sources also refute Cramer’s claim:

“The Republican tax bill does not pass the postcard test […] no taxpayer will ever see the postcard-size tax return that President Trump laid a kiss on in November as Republican leaders launched their tax overhaul effort.” –New York Times

“Their ‘postcard test’ appears to have been all but forgotten. The measure adds new layers of complexity to a tax code that is already mind-bogglingly complicated.” –USA Today

“But the code overall remains intractably complex as a sea of deductions and loopholes were preserved or tinkered with.” –Bloomberg

Finally: It turns out the new tax brackets weren’t the only things Congressman Cramer didn’t know about. Apparently, House Republicans didn’t bother to check the rules either, which is no surprise since they’re in a desperate rush to push through their sloppily crafted bill. As a result of fumbling the rules, the House will be forced to re-vote on the tax bill today.

Cramer said re-voting is like “winning the Super Bowl twice.” Last we checked, these kind of sloppy errors are more likely to occur on the junior varsity team.

“This isn’t the first time Congressman Cramer has fumbled the ball for North Dakota families, and it won’t be the last,” added McNeil. “It’s time for Cramer to take a seat on the bench.”

– 30 –

Can Cramer justify last-minute loophole in tax bill that would personally enrich GOP lawmakers, members of the president’s family?

(BISMARCK, ND) – A last-minute loophole added to the historically unpopular Republican tax bill “could personally enrich key Republican lawmakers,” such as GOP holdout Sen. Bob Corker (TN), Speaker Paul Ryan (WI) and members of the president’s personal family, all of whom own significant real estate investments and/or stakes in real estate LLCs.

According to the International Business Times:

  • “Republican congressional leaders and real estate moguls could be personally enriched by a real-estate-related provision GOP lawmakers slipped into the final tax bill released Friday evening…”
  • “The new tax provision would specifically allow owners of large real estate holdings through LLCs to deduct a percentage of their ‘pass through’ income from their taxes, according to experts…”
  • “The new provision was not in the bill passed by the House or the Senate. Instead, it was inserted into the final bill during reconciliation…”
  • The provision “would offer a special tax cut to LLCs with few employees and large amounts of depreciable property assets, namely buildings: rent generating apartment and office buildings.”

Confronted with this glaring conflict of interest, Republican lawmakers have been unable to justify its inclusion in the bill. Senator Corker (who also failed to disclose millions in personal income from real estate, hedge funds and other investments according to the Wall Street Journal) claimed to know nothing about it after he withdrew his opposition to the bill. The only explanation, offered by Senator John Cornyn (TX) the number two ranking Republican, is that the provision was added to “cobble together the votes we needed to get this bill passed.”

Maybe Congressman Cramer can offer a better explanation?

Can he provide any justification for how this real-estate-related gimmick-for-the-rich benefits working North Dakotans?

Ducking, dodging & dancing: Rep. Cramer evades & fumbles defense of GOP tax bill

(BISMARCK, ND) – Congressman Kevin Cramer participated in a Facebook Live event Tuesday night, in which he had a hard time defending the Republican tax plan that threatens to hike taxes on tens of thousands of hardworking North Dakotans and increase the national debt by $1.5 trillion, triggering severe cuts to Medicare, crop insurance, farm programs, rural infrastructure, and many other vital services for North Dakota.
 
Cramer struggled to tap dance around the bill’s catastrophic impact on the national debt and misled about its impacts on farmers. He even cooked up some “fake news” of his own, to boot.
 
Here’s what we heard – or didn’t hear – during Cramer’s Facebook Live event:
 
BRUSHING OFF THE NATIONAL DEBT: Despite his long record as a supposed deficit hawk who once believed government spending needed to be brought under control, Congressman Cramer was remarkably flip about glaring economic analyses demonstrating that the Republican tax plan would add more than $1 trillion to the national debt. Perhaps that’s because Cramer threw out his convictions for “political survival”?

Not that you’d hear it from him, but here’s how Cramer’s tax bill would explode the national debt: 
 
According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the Republican tax plan would add more than $1 trillion to the national debt. Despite the GOP arguments, the Trump Administration’s Treasury Department released a report assuming economic growth more robust than many economists consider likely. Even with dynamic analysis, which attempts to account for “economic growth,” the tax bill still doesn’t pay for itself and leaves taxpayers with a one trillion dollar price tag.
 
TALL TALES FOR FARMERS: Instead of straight talk, Cramer has been known to parrot the typical GOP talking points, claiming that repealing the estate tax will benefit North Dakota family farmers – and Tuesday night was no exception. Cramer said many North Dakota farmers support the Republican tax plan because it would raise the threshold for the estate tax – and under the plan he voted for – eliminate the tax entirely. But in fact, the policy Cramer rubber-stamped helps out millionaires much more than your average North Dakota farmer:

Many farmers are voicing their strong concerns about this bill. Aaron Krauter, former head of the Farm Service Agency, points out that because the Republican tax plan spends over $1 trillion on tax cuts for millionaires, farm programs that are vital to North Dakota’s agricultural producers – like crop insurance and ag subsidies – will be subjected to deep sequestration cuts. He also took to task Congressman Cramer on the estate tax. The threshold is already set high enough to shield a vast majority of farmers and small businesses from the tax. That’s why, according to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), fewer than 10 North Dakota estates were required to file for the estate tax last year.

In Krauter’s own words, “Washington insiders like Ryan, McConnell and Cramer can continue trying to play farmers and ranchers for fools – but we know better and we won’t fall for it.”
 
“FAKE NEWS!!!” FOR MIDDLE-CLASS FAMILIES: When a constituent asked how many North Dakotans would see a tax hike under the GOP tax bill, Cramer promised that the middle-class wouldn’t see a tax hike under the GOP bill – and conveniently left out the tax increases North Dakota working families would see after ten years.

After 2027:

More than 90,000 North Dakotans would see a tax increase under the Senate Republican bill; under the House Republican bill, more than 30,000 North Dakota households would see a tax hike. Either way, Rep. Cramer voted to raise taxes on middle-class North Dakotans.

Ducking, dodging & dancing: Rep. Cramer evades & fumbles defense of GOP tax bill

(BISMARCK, ND) – Congressman Kevin Cramer participated in a Facebook Live event Tuesday night, in which he had a hard time defending the Republican tax plan that threatens to hike taxes on tens of thousands of hardworking North Dakotans and increase the national debt by $1.5 trillion, triggering severe cuts to Medicare, crop insurance, farm programs, rural infrastructure, and many other vital services for North Dakota.
 
Cramer struggled to tap dance around the bill’s catastrophic impact on the national debt and misled about its impacts on farmers. He even cooked up some “fake news” of his own, to boot.
 
Here’s what we heard – or didn’t hear – during Cramer’s Facebook Live event:
 
BRUSHING OFF THE NATIONAL DEBT: Despite his long record as a supposed deficit hawk who once believed government spending needed to be brought under control, Congressman Cramer was remarkably flip about glaring economic analyses demonstrating that the Republican tax plan would add more than $1 trillion to the national debt. Perhaps that’s because Cramer threw out his convictions for “political survival”?

Not that you’d hear it from him, but here’s how Cramer’s tax bill would explode the national debt: 
 
According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the Republican tax plan would add more than $1 trillion to the national debt. Despite the GOP arguments, the Trump Administration’s Treasury Department released a report assuming economic growth more robust than many economists consider likely. Even with dynamic analysis, which attempts to account for “economic growth,” the tax bill still doesn’t pay for itself and leaves taxpayers with a one trillion dollar price tag.
 
TALL TALES FOR FARMERS: Instead of straight talk, Cramer has been known to parrot the typical GOP talking points, claiming that repealing the estate tax will benefit North Dakota family farmers – and Tuesday night was no exception. Cramer said many North Dakota farmers support the Republican tax plan because it would raise the threshold for the estate tax – and under the plan he voted for – eliminate the tax entirely. But in fact, the policy Cramer rubber-stamped helps out millionaires much more than your average North Dakota farmer:

Many farmers are voicing their strong concerns about this bill. Aaron Krauter, former head of the Farm Service Agency, points out that because the Republican tax plan spends over $1 trillion on tax cuts for millionaires, farm programs that are vital to North Dakota’s agricultural producers – like crop insurance and ag subsidies – will be subjected to deep sequestration cuts. He also took to task Congressman Cramer on the estate tax. The threshold is already set high enough to shield a vast majority of farmers and small businesses from the tax. That’s why, according to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), fewer than 10 North Dakota estates were required to file for the estate tax last year.

In Krauter’s own words, “Washington insiders like Ryan, McConnell and Cramer can continue trying to play farmers and ranchers for fools – but we know better and we won’t fall for it.”
 
“FAKE NEWS!!!” FOR MIDDLE-CLASS FAMILIES: When a constituent asked how many North Dakotans would see a tax hike under the GOP tax bill, Cramer promised that the middle-class wouldn’t see a tax hike under the GOP bill – and conveniently left out the tax increases North Dakota working families would see after ten years.

After 2027:

More than 90,000 North Dakotans would see a tax increase under the Senate Republican bill; under the House Republican bill, more than 30,000 North Dakota households would see a tax hike. Either way, Rep. Cramer voted to raise taxes on middle-class North Dakotans.

Cramer rationalizes Roy Moore, remains silent on accusations against House GOP colleague

Cramer says there is a ‘different standard’ for Moore’s highly credible alleged abuse of minors because ‘you’re talking 40 years past’

But Cramer’s colleague Blake Farenthold used taxpayer dollars to settle sexual harassment lawsuit in 2014

(BISMARCK, ND) – Last night, while speaking with conservative TV pundit Chris Berg, Congressman Kevin Cramer rationalized numerous highly credible allegations of sexual misconduct against Alabama GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore, saying: “you’re talking 40 years past.” That’s right – Kevin Cramer thinks Roy Moore’s alleged abuse of minors should be judged with a “different standard.”

Here are the key quotes from his interview:

“I would also say the past, when you’re talking 40 years past, versus last year, two years ago in the case of both Senator Franken and Representative Conyers, you are talking about something a little bit different, you’re talking about a different standard.”

“I think then you have to let the past be the past.”  

Even if you agree with Cramer’s bizarre standard for rationalizing allegations of sexual misconduct — and we definitely do not — why, then, is Congressman Cramer silent when it comes to recent allegations against his own House Republican colleague Blake Farenthold?

Farenthold is accused of sexually harassing his former Communications Director, who brought a lawsuit against him in 2014 saying she was fired after raising concerns about sexual harassment and a hostile work environment created by the congressman’s multiple advances and inappropriate comments. Farenthold then used nearly $85,000 in taxpayer dollars to secretly protect himself and settle the lawsuit.

If Congressman Cramer takes recent allegations so seriously, shouldn’t he call for his colleague’s resignation?

Tom Campbell, Kevin Cramer must renounce endorsement from white supremacist Peter Tefft

(BISMARCK, ND) – Responding to an op-ed in the Fargo Forum in which white supremacist Peter Tefft – who participated in the violent Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville – declares his support for State Senator Tom Campbell and Congressman Kevin Cramer, Democratic-NPL chairwoman Kylie Oversen issued the following statement:

“White supremacy and white nationalism are abhorrent and stand in stark contrast to the North Dakotan and American values of tolerance and love for our neighbors of all races, colors and creeds. The racist views of Peter Tefft have no place in our political dialogue and must be forcefully and unequivocally rejected.
 
“State Senator Tom Campbell and Congressman Kevin Cramer must renounce Peter Tefft’s endorsement immediately.”   

Whether it’s farmers, working families or small business owners, North Dakotans are united against GOP tax bill

Cramer-supported tax bill takes a beating in North Dakota newspapers
 
(BISMARCK, ND) – Whether it’s farmers, working families, teachers, or small business owners concerned about their taxes and the federal deficit, North Dakotans are united in their message to North Dakota’s delegation: The GOP tax bill that passed the House and is currently being debated in the Senate does not stand for them. The bill, which was enthusiastically supported by Rep. Kevin Cramer, would raise – not cut – taxes on a whopping 30,000 North Dakota households earning less than $106,000, skyrocket the federal deficit by $1.5 trillion, and increase the cost of health care premiums across the state. 
 
But don’t just take it from us. Here’s a sample of the dozens of North Dakotans who’ve written to their newspapers voicing strong opposition to the GOP tax bill:
 
Richard Schlosser – Edgeley, ND: “As a farmer, I felt that I had to respond to those politicians who use farmers like me as the reason why the estate tax should be eliminated. The fact of the matter is the tax affects very few family farmers and ranchers in North Dakota, or in any state for that matter.
 
“North Dakotans, including farmers and ranchers, deserve real reform that simplifies the tax code, eliminates loopholes, makes it more fair and puts money back in the pockets of middle-class families. But instead, we got a false sales pitch about the estate tax to sell a bill that turned out to be a tax hike for many hardworking North Dakotans.”
 
Curtis Schulz – Bismarck, ND: “Deductions on the chopping block are: sales and income tax, property taxes, medical expenses including insurance premiums, self-pay nursing home care including insurance premiums. As a senior citizen, this really concerns me. I fail to see the huge benefit for the middle class as promised.”
Arlette Preston – Fargo, ND: “We need a business environment which encourages entrepreneurship and business growth on Main Street in North Dakota. Our focus should be on individuals and small businesses. This tax bill tilts the benefits to large corporations. That’s why I stand with a majority of small business owners opposing these bills.”
 
Lisa and Greg Cook – Mapleton, ND: “From a tax standpoint, instead of offering permanent tax cuts like the ones larger corporations will receive, small businesses like ours are being offered the short end of the stick, with tax cuts for middle-income earners – many of whom are small business owners – ending after 10 years. Rather than getting rid of the uncertainty, this tax bill will just add to it. It will make it harder for us, and other North Dakota small businesses, to grow.”
 
Lisa Dullum – West Fargo, ND: “I am disappointed in Rep. Kevin Cramer’s support of the recent House bill, which would remove the tax deductions so many teachers like me count on when we buy school supplies for our classrooms. This tax deduction of $250 merely skims the surface of what teachers spend on supplies, snacks or milk money for our students. Teachers pick up the extra costs because schools can’t afford to provide them due to budget cuts and funding shortfalls.
 
“Adding insult to injury, the bill would actually increase taxes for 30,000 middle-class North Dakota Families who earn less than $106,000 per year. Families who North Dakota teachers have helped educate for many generations. How does increasing taxes help our families and children prosper?”
 
Lizzette Cambron – Fargo, ND: “The proposed tax reform will increase my taxes over 300 percent. I cannot afford that, plus my education, plus health care, plus living expenses. My tuition waiver is what keeps me at NDSU. I work hard for NDSU in exchange for my tuition waiver.”
 
Tom Osowski – Minot, ND: “How can Rep. Cramer classify the handful of big donor Republicans as anything other than a “special interest” group? And boy, do the Republicans ever come through for them.”
 
Carla Hess – Grand Forks, ND: “While the middle class is shrinking, our infrastructure is falling apart, young people can’t afford college or college debts and 28 million people have no health insurance. Do we really need to give billions of dollars in tax breaks to the very richest people and big corporations in this country for them to pocket?”
 
Waylon Hedegaard – Bismarck, ND: “The average working person is disregarded, while the wealthy and the corporations have an open door to Congress. This is a terrible way to govern. This is putting corporations over working people, the wealthy over the middle class and special interests over democracy. In strong democracy, winning a battle should never take precedence over governing.”
 
Charles Linderman – Jamestown, ND: “We should not pass on more federal debt to our children and grandchildren so the wealthiest on the planet can pay less taxes.”
 
Krisanna Peterson – Bismarck, ND: “I am requesting an explanation on why big businesses and wealthy individuals are more important than the youth and families of our state.”

Rep. Cramer should denounce the president’s use of a derogatory insult at Native American Code Talker event

(BISMARCK, ND) – Democratic-NPL executive director Scott McNeil issued the following statement calling on Congressman Kevin Cramer to denounce the president’s use of a derogatory insult during a White House event honoring Native American Code Talkers.

 “Using the name of a historic Native American figure to throw cheap insults at a political opponent – most recently at a White House event intended to honor Native American veterans – is insensitive and unbecoming of the office of President of the United States. 
 
“Congressman Kevin Cramer has consistently defended the administration’s most outrageous behavior. He should know how insulting these remarks are to North Dakota’s military veterans, and especially to the families of the many North Dakotan Code Talkers who served in WWII and WWI and were posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal. Our veterans, Native North Dakotans, and those of Native American heritage all deserve better from their elected representative in Washington, D.C.”  

Kevin Cramer’s Trillion-Dollar Two-Step

(BISMARCK, ND) – Politicians are known for contradicting themselves, but their flip-flops usually don’t cost over one trillion dollars.
 
Kevin Cramer’s latest flip-flop does. And if he gets his way, North Dakota taxpayers are going to foot the bill.
 
For more than a decade, Kevin Cramer decried the national debt, calling on members of Congress to cut spending, eliminate programs that benefit North Dakota, and rein in deficits.
 
Now it’s 2017, and the Republican-controlled House of Representatives has accomplished few – if any – major policy goals. In Cramer’s own words, Republicans are fighting for their “political survival” unless they pass something into law. Anything. Deficits be darned when Republican mega-donors are angry.
 
That something, it seems, is a massive budget-busting tax bill that benefits the wealthy at the expense of low- and middle-income families in North Dakota, who in many cases would actually see a tax increase.  
 
“If cutting taxes for the wealthy and hiking taxes on many low-and working-class people wasn’t bad enough, Kevin Cramer didn’t even bother to pay for the bill,” said Democratic-NPL executive director Scott McNeil. “What happened to the Kevin Cramer who was constantly sounding alarms over the national debt when we had a Democratic president? Did he forget about Congress paying its bills? Or did he never really care to begin with? His tax cuts for the wealthy are just another example of Cramer putting party and politics before North Dakotan families.” 
 

Timeline of Cramer’s statements on the deficit and debt leading up to his $1.3 trillion two-step:

November 16, 2017: Despite more than 10 years of statements to the contrary, Cramer disregards the national debt and votes in favor of a massive tax bill that threatens to stick taxpayers with a $1.3 trillion bill.  

…but before that… 

September 26, 2016: According to the Bismarck Tribune, “Cramer, 55, is seeking his third two-year term in Congress. He said he has worked with fellow lawmakers to reduce the federal deficit.”
 
January 16, 2014: According to Underwood News, “Cramer agreed: ‘We should be diligent with every penny,’ he said. Cramer added that the national debt will never get under control until entitlements are dealt with.”
 
October 7, 2013: According to the Williston Daily Herald, “Looking ahead, Cramer said the key to ending the shutdown is leadership and compromise. ‘Funding decisions are not easy with the national debt approaching $17 trillion,’ Cramer said.”
 
November 7, 2012: According to the Associated Press, “Cramer advocated eliminating a federal tax subsidy for the wind industry to help reduce federal budget deficits and debt.”
 
September 29, 2012: According to the Grand Forks Herald, “Cramer acknowledges the job losses linked to the expiration but said North Dakota’s economy is strong enough to absorb them. The national debt should be a bigger concern than support for the wind industry, he said. ‘Is that really the appropriate role for our government, to subsidize jobs when we have a $16 trillion debt?’ he said.”
 
March 14, 2010: According to the Bismarck Tribune, “For Public Service Commission Chairman Kevin Cramer and Fargo legislator and businessman Rick Berg, the economy, job creation, energy and health care have been major issues of the campaign. Both consider the economy and job creation to be priority No. 1, both are opposed to the health care bill and cap-and-trade, and both want to tackle the deficit.”
 
May 3, 1998: According to the Bismarck Tribune, Cramer expressed concern over “feeding the federal budget.” “Cramer – who had indicated this might be a kinder, gentler campaign than he waged two years ago – set the tone by saying, ‘It seems Earl is not concerned about the take-home pay North Dakota workers need to feed their families. He’s more concerned about feeding the federal budget.’”
 
April 16, 1996: According to the Bismarck Tribune, Cramer “renewed his call for another amendment, this one to require Congress enact balanced federal budgets. Raising taxes won’t eliminate the federal deficit, he said, but that amendment would.” 

“Political survival” – Rep. Cramer admits the real reason for his vote to hike taxes on working and middle-class North Dakotans

(BISMARCK, ND) – This week, Rep. Kevin Cramer voted for the House Republican tax bill, a measure that would give massive benefits to the wealthiest Americans, while increasing taxes on low- and middle-income earners in North Dakota.

Under Cramer’s tax bill, working North Dakotans with incomes between $10,000 – $40,000 would see their income taxes increase from $111 to $1,235 per year by 2025 [Source on Page 6].

After the vote, Cramer called this “a historic moment for the middle class,” but on Friday, he spilled the real reasons behind his rushed vote on a massive re-write of the tax code, without waiting for a full Congressional Budget Office score.

“Political survival depends on us doing this,” he told the Associated Press, conceding that House Republicans are desperate to demonstrate they can pass something – anything – through Congress and into law. “One of the things that scares me a little bit is that they’re going to screw up the bill to the point we can’t pass it,” he said, referring to the prospects for the GOP’s tax agenda in the U.S. Senate.

Cramer joins the company of his Republican colleague from New York, who admitted that the real reason to pass tax reform was politics and the fear of losing wealthy donors.

“This week, Congressman Cramer voted to hike taxes on North Dakotans who work hard each day to put food on their tables and maintain a comfortable standard of living,” said Democratic-NPL executive director Scott McNeil. “If Cramer’s vote had truly been about getting the policy right, he would have demanded this bill go through the normal legislative process, with careful consideration of the consequences for all North Dakotans. But this was about politics, and so Kevin Cramer once again put special interests and lobbyists in Washington, D.C., ahead of North Dakota families. The swamp just got deeper with Kevin Cramer’s vote.”

Will Cramer, Campbell and Hoeven torpedo bipartisan health care deal?

(BISMARCK, ND) – Yesterday’s announcement of a bipartisan health care deal was met with unsurprising silence from North Dakota’s Republican leaders Rep. Kevin Cramer, senate candidate Tom Campbell, and U.S. Sen. John Hoeven – all of whom previously supported efforts to eliminate health care protections for tens of thousands of North Dakotans and totally dismantle Medicaid.
 
“Congressman Kevin Cramer, state Sen. Tom Campbell and U.S. Sen. John Hoeven all supported efforts to kick tens of thousands of North Dakotans off their insurance, dismantle Medicaid and spike costs by sowing chaos in the insurance marketplace,” said Democratic-NPL executive director Scott McNeil. “Now, we have a different approach, a bipartisan path forward that incorporates ideas from a wide range of stakeholders and was crafted through a normal, open legislative process. While some Republican leaders are so bent on scoring political points, they have signaled they might not support the bipartisan Alexander-Murray deal, North Dakotans are anxiously wondering where Cramer, Campbell and Hoeven stand.” 
 
“It’s also worth noting that Cramer, Campbell and Hoeven all supported the original Senate repeal bill, which actually included two years of funding for CSRs,” added McNeil. “It would be staggeringly hypocritical to oppose a truly bipartisan deal over the same funding that was included in a bill they previously supported.”
 
Alexander-Murray was crafted by a bipartisan group of 30 U.S. Senators, including Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, and incorporates input from numerous governors, state insurance commissioners, patient advocates, health care providers and insurance companies. It has already received praise from health experts and lawmakers across the ideological spectrum – even including members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus – for taking much-needed steps to stabilize insurance markets and lower costs for consumers.
 
The Alexander-Murray deal would:
– Restore critical Cost-Sharing Reduction payments that help keep health insurance affordable for as many as 42,000 North Dakotans, but were cut off by the administration.
– Restore funding for outreach and enrollment, including health care navigators – organizations that help Americans enroll in health insurance options that meet their needs – which was slashed by 93 and 96 percent for two of North Dakota’s three navigators.
– Create a Copper Plan insurance option that would provide a new, lower cost, option for individuals and families. This is a measure Sen. Heitkamp has been advocating for since 2014.
– Offer more flexibility for states to be innovative with how they ensure coverage for families. States would still be required to offer comprehensive insurance, cover the same number of individuals, and comply with the essential health benefits in the health reform law.
-30-