Rosa In Absentia

Rosa DeLauro (D‑3rd District) was scheduled to appear at a ​“happy hour” at the Stony Creek Brewery on Friday. DeLauro didn’t make it, but the event was happy nonetheless since she was still in Washington, caught up in the aftermath of the Republicans’ version of the health care bill, which was pulled at the last minute; there were not enough votes to send the bill to the Senate, where it was sure to come under further fire.

DeLauro and other key Democrats had appeared at a press conference just an hour or so earlier with House minority leader Nancy Pelosi, who said, ​“Today is a great day for our country – a victory for the American people.”

The brewery event was held under the auspices of Action Together CT, New Haven County. Its focus was on health care and DeLauro has spoken out repeatedly against the Republican’s plans to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.

Just after the bill was pulled, DeLauro posted on her Facebook page, ​“You can’t try to kick 24 million Americans off their health insurance, raise premiums and deductibles, enact an age tax on older Americans, and raid Medicare without a fight. The Republican health care bill was a disaster and I’m glad to see it pulled.”

Introduced by DeLauro’s campaign manager Jimmy Tickey, Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman (pictured) stepped in on DeLauro’s behalf, sashaying across the floor in a Rosa-like move. ​“This is a victory for all Americans. Every single member of the Democratic caucus voted against it,” she said. ​“Thank you for your activism.”

Dr. Suzanne Lagarde, of the Fair Haven Community Health Center/Project Access, said, ​“Those who have been working hard feel good tonight.” She said that DeLauro has been fighting for everyone… ​“you’ve been her family.” In terms of the failure of the American Health Care Act (also cited as World’s Greatest Healthcare Plan of 2017), she said, ​“Blame it on the Republicans.”

Lagarde (pictured) said that the Fair Haven Community Health Center serves 3,500 residents locally. It’s one of 17 such centers within the state serving 18,000 residents. She added that there are 1,400 similar facilities within the U.S. caring for 24 million people. And because Medicaid is dependent on federal funding, ​“we’re not totally out of the woods yet,” she said.

Although the 50 or so DeLauro supporters were upbeat as they shared stories and thoughts about the weeks since the presidential election. As they sipped the local brew, they left no doubt that there was more work to be done.

DeLauro knows that, too. She told the CT Mirror, ​“Speaker Ryan and Republicans made the right decision in pulling this bill, and if they want to work together to enact improvements to the Affordable Care Act, I will be there.”
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