Voters sent message officials should heed

Voters across the country sent a message to lawmakers in 2018: Defend our health care or be voted out. Apparently, Republicans weren't listening because the GOP war on health care continues.

Republicans have resisted efforts to allow House and Senate legal counsel to do what the Trump administration has refused to do, and intervene in the Texas v. United States lawsuit, which could overturn the Affordable Care Act and leave millions of Americans with pre-existing conditions without health care. While every Democrat has voted to allow legal counsel to defend the ACA in court, nearly every Republican opposed these measures.

Republicans also advanced the nomination of Chad Readler, President Donald Trump's nominee for the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals and a vocal critic of the ACA.

While serving as the principal deputy and acting assistant attorney general for the Civil Division at the U.S. Department of Justice, Readler filed the Trump administration's brief in Texas v. United States, arguing that the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional and should be overturned immediately.

He was nominated for a seat on the 6th Circuit the very same day.

Health care defined the 2018 midterms. National exit polls showed health care was voters' No. 1 issue by far, and 34 Republicans who voted to repeal the ACA lost their seats.

Now, it is time for the 116th Congress to honor its commitment to us, and protect our health care. Iowans are counting on Sen. Joni Ernst to stand with them, and protect our health care.

Elwood Garlock

Cedar Rapids