The 3rd Congressional Democrats of Wisconsin condemn Rep. Derrick Van Orden’s vote yesterday to cut Medicaid and Food Assistance for tens of thousands of families in his own district. Rep. Derrick Van Orden has spent years promising his constituents that he would never cut Medicaid or food assistance, calling Democrats “liars” when his constituents would express concerns about him cutting these programs. Today, we know the truth. Derrick Van Orden lied to his constituents in order to pretend to be moderate enough to represent the Wisconsin 3rd. This vote proves that Derrick Van Orden is out of touch with his district and is unwilling to protect his constituents from the policies of the Republican Party.
According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget office, more than 18,000 people in the 3rd CD will lose their medicaid coverage. Another 10,000 will lose their insurance due to cuts in funding to the ACA. This means 28,000 people in Western Wisconsin will no longer have access to healthcare thanks to Derrick Van Orden. This also means our rural hospitals will lose a large part of their income, forcing these hospitals closer to closure. Derrick Van Orden’s vote also puts 90,000 Wisconsinites in danger of losing food assistance, and is expected to cost Wisconsin $314 million dollars as the expense of SNAP is moved from the federal government to state governments.
According to William Garcia, Chair of the 3rd Congressional Democrats of Wisconsin, “When Derrick Van Orden had to decide between standing up for his constituents or standing up to Trump and Congressional Republicans, Van Orden chose Trump, endangering thousands of people in his own district who will lose medical insurance and food assistance. One of Van Orden’s talking points when running for office was that his family needed food assistance when he was a kid, so he would never cut that program. Now, we know he is perfectly happy to cut programs he relied on if it means billionaires get a bigger tax cut.”
Derrick Van Orden knows this vote will hurt his voters. That is why he has spent all of 2025 hiding from his constituents, refusing to hold any public appearances or in-person town hall events. Derrick Van Orden is hoping that Western Wisconsin will forget this vote. But he will not be able to hide from the long-term harm he has done to his own voters, and in November of 2026, we will elect a Representative who actually stands up for Western Wisconsin.
