Amid Republican Threats to Medicaid, Rhode Island Nursing Homes Leader to Join Amo at Joint Address

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Congressman Gabe Amo (RI-01) announced that his guest for President Trump’s joint address to Congress tomorrow will be Joan M. Woods, Chief Executive Officer of John Clarke Senior Living in Middletown, Rhode Island. Joan also serves on the Board of Directors of the Rhode Island Health Care Association — a non-profit trade association that represents over 8 in 10 nursing homes in the state — and is a long-time champion for protecting Medicaid and Medicare for seniors in Rhode Island.

Cuts to Medicaid jeopardize the safety and dignity of older Americans, as it is the primary source of long-term care services and supports, including nursing home and home-and-community-based services (HCBS). At John Clarke Senior Living, roughly 65% of nursing home residents depend on Medicaid. Across the state, 160 individuals are on a waiting list for Medicaid HCBS. The cuts proposed by Republican will grow the waiting list for the most vulnerable while exacerbating their challenges in accessing health care.

“I’m honored that Joan Woods will join me for tomorrow’s joint address to Congress to highlight the Republican effort to put Medicaid and other critical programs on the chopping block,” said Congressman Gabe Amo, member of the House Committee on Budget. “Despite promising not to ‘touch’ essential programs like Medicaid, President Trump has thrown his support behind the Republican plan to cut hundreds of billions from a health program that serves 306,000 Rhode Island seniors. This budget proposal will hurt Rhode Island seniors, health care providers, and nursing homes — all to pay for a tax giveaway for billionaires. I’m thrilled that Joan will contribute her passion and decades of experience fighting for Ocean State seniors as we work hand in hand to prevent disastrous Republican funding cuts from hurting our most vulnerable neighbors.”

“Thank you to Congressman Amo for inviting me to join him for the joint address to Congress,” said Joan M. Woods, CEO of John Clarke Senior Living. “On behalf of seniors and nursing home professionals in Rhode Island, I look forward to traveling to Washington to oppose any proposal that would hurt Rhode Island seniors and give huge tax breaks to the already wealthy. The residents and staff at John Clarke Senior Living are always my priority as I work with Congressman Amo to ground our advocacy in the people and organizations that this administration’s policies would affect.”

BACKGROUND

Congressman Amo serves on the House Committee on the Budget, whose chief responsibility is to draft an annual concurrent resolution on the budget that directs specific committees to achieve spending cuts or increases. Republicans leaked menu of options for this resolution includes:

• At least $880 billion in cuts for the Energy and Commerce Committee, which could target Medicaid, Affordable Care Act (ACA) premium assistance, and repeal Inflation Reduction Act policies.
• At least $230 billion in cuts for the Agriculture Committee, which could target the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
• At least $1 billion in cuts for the Financial Services Committee, which could target the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and funding for financial regulators.
• Up to $4.5 trillion in new spending for the Ways and Means Committee, which could direct massive tax cuts for the top one percent.

On February 13, Congressman Amo offered an amendment to the Republican budget resolution that would have protected and extended Medicare’s solvency by closing tax loopholes and requiring wealthy taxpayers to contribute more to Medicare.

On February 19, Congressman Amo visited the Barrington Peck Center for Adult Enrichmentwhere he spoke about his work to protect critical programs like Medicare and Medicaid from Republican cuts.

On February 25, Congressman Amo spoke on the House Floor to slam the Republican budget resolution that threatens devastating cuts to critical programs. The day before, Congressman Amo submitted two amendments to the House Committee on Rules — including one that would affirm that Medicaid is a critical program that provides health care, nursing home care, and other life-saving services to 72 million Americans, including 30 million children, and more than 306,000 Rhode Island residents.

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