After Republicans in the House failed to pass the American Health Care Act (ACHA aka Trumpcare), Congressman John Faso issued a statement that said, in part, “Since the start of this process, I have said that we must keep what works in the current healthcare system and fix what doesn’t.”

Apparently he believes that taking health care away from 24 million people in the U.S. is part of the fix—that’s how many people would have lost health insurance had Trumpcare passed, along with 66,000 in his own district. 

Faso’s statement went on to say, “Pulling the legislation from the floor reveals that there is no Republican consensus on replacement of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). As such, it is incumbent upon those of us in Congress to find incremental improvements and reforms to the ACA—hopefully with bipartisan support—which will lower costs and increase healthcare access for all Americans. I recognize that the partisan divide over health-care needs to be overcome if we are to truly fix what isn’t working in the ACA. I stand ready to do so.”

On the basis of his actions, it’s just a little hard to believe he has any regard at all for the well being of all Americans. He agreed to support Trumpcare after the people drafting the bill agreed to include language that would sabotage the Medicaid program in New York State. The language would have prevented counties in New York from contributing money to pay for Medicaid, which has been the case for more than 50 years.

It’s absolutely true that many people in the state would be happy to have their property taxes reduced a bit, but because there was no federal funding to replace the county funds, Medicaid funding in the state—which has been running at the rate of about $55 billion a year—would have been cut by $2.3 billion on top of the $4.6 billion  proposed cuts from the state program over four years by Trumpcare. So, either the state income tax would have to have been dramatically increased to make up the difference, or services to Medicaid recipients would have to have been dramatically cut. On the basis of his vote, one has to conclude that Faso does not care about people who pay income taxes, or are Medicaid recipients, or both.

The bill also would have cut funding entirely for Planned Parenthood. Even though Faso promised during his campaign he would not support such a move, he was willing to overlook his promise in this case and vote in favor of the bill.

Republicans as a whole did not actually get a chance to vote on Trumpcare, because it became apparent that the bill was not going to pass—some say it was going to fall short by as many as 30 votes—so President Donald Trump pulled it from consideration. But Faso did have a chance to vote for it as a member of the House Budget Committee, and he voted to allow it to move forward.

There are signs that there will be a political price to pay for him and other Republicans who voted for the bill in committees. House Democrats have released a commercial (youtu.be/7Y8Z6KKiPVI) set to air on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, that attacks Faso and 13 other Republicans who voted in favor of the bill. And the respected Albany Times Union, which endorsed Faso before the election, ran an editorial titled “Shame on you, Mr. Faso” for his position on Trumpcare.

During his campaign, Faso’s support did not come from a grassroots army of supporters making many small donations. Instead, much of it came from wealthy donors such as hedge fund manager Robert Mercer, who, as a result of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United, was allowed to donate unlimited money to candidates; some $500,000 went to Faso’s campaign. Another hedge fund manager, Paul Singer, donated $600,000 to Faso.

Trumpcare, as it happens, would have been very good for their bottom lines. According to an article on Forbes.com, the plan would have featured massive tax cuts for the wealthy, with some $274 billion going to the richest 2% of the population.

Faso’s term thus far has been marked by the fact that he refuses to meet in a town hall setting with his constituents. He has no problem, however, meeting with donors at fundraising events.

Given that Faso has voted in favor of a bill that would have kicked thousands of his constituents off their health insurance plans and denied them Medicaid benefits, we clearly can’t count on him to put their interests first in future decisions, especially when those interests conflict with the interests of billionaires. We need to keep reminding him of the political costs of his decisions with our calls and letters.