I’m running for Congress because Rep. Hal Rogers has betrayed Appalachia | Opinion

Appalachia does not take kindly to swindlers.

When the now-infamous Eric Conn cheated some 4,000 of his own clients out of Social Security, I led the pro bono legal effort to help seniors reclaim their earned benefits. Today, the fight continues while Eastern Kentucky and the rest of rural America face new threats — not from disgraced attorneys, but from their own elected leaders.

That’s why I launched a campaign to replace Kentucky Congressman Hal Rogers, who has utterly betrayed his district — one of the poorest in the country — in voting for the Republican budget scam. Because make no mistake: a federal budget that takes from working families to give to the rich is a bigger scam than even Eric Conn could have dreamed up.

Congressman Rogers knows that Medicaid insures nearly half of his district, more than 316,000 men, women, children and seniors. He knows Medicaid is the only reason hospitals can stay open in places like Harlan, providing good jobs to hundreds of good people.

He knows the federal budget takes $12 billion in rural health care funding from Kentucky over the next ten years — more than any other state — putting an estimated 35 rural hospitals just in our Commonwealth at risk of closing.

Rogers claims that gutting Medicaid is somehow the only way to protect it. But if I promised 316,000 people I’d protect Medicaid and then pulled nearly $1 trillion from the program — guaranteeing tens of thousands will lose health care just in the 5th Congressional District — would you shake my hand or would you call me a crook?

The inevitable result will be Kentucky families living shorter, sicker lives. Those who can still afford to see a doctor will have fewer options and longer drives. Full-time workers will become full-time caregivers for loved ones losing critical care. And people improving their lives with Medicaid-fueled addiction recovery treatments will be back to square one, all to cover tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans.

One health care worker put it bluntly at the Kentucky Democratic Party’s first Medicaid Defense Tour stop in Hazard: these cuts could turn Eastern Kentucky into a region-wide ghost town.

Rural people, including those in Eastern Kentucky, are fighters. They’ve been kicked and scammed and swindled before. These are people determined to provide for their families, no matter the cost. Programs like SNAP and Medicaid help them do that, but in this disgraceful budget practically every poverty-busting tool in the kit takes a hit.

Republican leaders could have drawn up a budget that helps vulnerable families and gives 90% of the country a meaningful tax cut. Instead, Pell Grants are shrinking. Low-income education programs are disappearing completely, along with utility bill assistance, Social Security offices and grants that fuel addiction recovery. People on Medicaid are being treated like criminals awaiting judgment instead of patients just trying to see doctors. Any lawmaker who represents this region should have been pounding on President Trump’s door, demanding to know why programs that insure more than half of Eastern Kentucky’s children and put food on their tables should be the first to go.

Unfortunately, Republicans as a party have proven that any promises made to rural voters come second to what they’ve promised ultra-wealthy backers. They are happier to wage war on the poor than on poverty.

Congressman Rogers and his peers could have voted against the billionaire-first agenda. They chose to cheer it on. And for that, working families will choose to vote them out.

Bio: Ned Pillersdorf is an Eastern Kentucky attorney and candidate for Congress.