Sen. Robinson Defends Health Care Authority Action, Labels GOP Claims "Ludicrous"

Statement by Senator Ben Robinson,
Chairman, Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Health and Social Services

"When I heard about Sen. Pruitt's comments, I thought that they were some kind of belated, bad April Fool's joke. To suggest that the Health Care Authority acted improperly when it mailed out the termination letters is not just laughable - it's ludicrous."

"When we voted on emergency funding for health care programs last month, Sen. Pruitt and his colleagues knew that if the money was not delivered on time, the Health Care Authority would be required by federal law to mail out termination letters. They had been forewarned of that fact well in advance of the vote on the Senate floor."

"Sen. Pruitt and his colleagues had a chance to stop those letters from being sent out, but instead they chose to block the emergency funding and create the crisis that they're now complaining about. Instead of shouldering the blame for an irresponsible vote, they're trying to shift the blame to an agency that was simply doing what it was legally required to do. That's not exactly a profile in political courage."

"I'm disappointed in Sen. Pruitt's attempt at revisionist history. He sounds like a guy who's running for Congress and doesn't want any of his bad votes to come back and haunt him."