Rep. Derrick Van Orden Breaks Rank And Votes For ACA, Blames Democrats

Van Orden Breaks Rank And Votes For ACA, Blames Democrats

Rep Drunken Van Orden, who originally voted to cut ACA benefits, broke ranks and voted for it. Now, he's trying to cover his butt with his fellow Republicans.
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By Chris capper Liebenthal — January 11, 2026

Rep Drunken Van Orden voted for the OBBB, knowing damn well that it meant that thousands of Wisconsinites, including his constituents, would lose their health care subsidies. But he did a complete reversal last week and was one of the few Republicans to vote for extending the ACA subsidies. Since then, he's been busy backpedaling from his vote and trying to convince everyone he's still Trump's Little Bitch.

We need to have readily available, high-quality, actual affordable health care for all Americans. And cutting off these subsidies that were voted for 100% Democratic votes. Let's not forget that. That was a cliff. What we need is a glide path to get to the place where Americans don't have to wring their hands if they get sick. So, to me, it was a bridge too far. We would have had about 60,000 Wisconsinites lose their health care insurance, including thousands of my constituents. ..................




By Chris capper Liebenthal — January 11, 2026

Rep Drunken Van Orden voted for the OBBB, knowing damn well that it meant that thousands of Wisconsinites, including his constituents, would lose their health care subsidies. But he did a complete reversal last week and was one of the few Republicans to vote for extending the ACA subsidies. Since then, he's been busy backpedaling from his vote and trying to convince everyone he's still Trump's Little Bitch.

We need to have readily available, high-quality, actual affordable health care for all Americans. And cutting off these subsidies that were voted for 100% Democratic votes. Let's not forget that. That was a cliff. What we need is a glide path to get to the place where Americans don't have to wring their hands if they get sick. So, to me, it was a bridge too far. We would have had about 60,000 Wisconsinites lose their health care insurance, including thousands of my constituents.

So, I didn't vote with Democrats. I voted for the residents of the third congressional state of our third congressional district of Wisconsin and the state of Wisconsin. That's my job. My title is representative. And when I was a Navy SEAL, Jake, I did things all lawful, mind you, but I did a lot of stuff that I was really uncomfortable with. But I knew it had to be done because otherwise the mission would fail. Well, in this case, the mission is making sure that our Wisconsinites and the rest of Americans who truly need healthcare have it.

Geez, by the way DVO is talking, you would think he killed a whole bunch of kittens instead of giving people a chance of having affordable health care. But just as a reminder of how much DVO cares about his constituents, here is his reaction when the OBBB passed:
dvo_on_aca_cuts

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