Senate Will Vote Today on Bill to Repeal Obamacare
‘Americans are living with the consequences of this broken law and its broken promises every day. Its negative effects are often felt in the most personal and visceral ways. And Americans are tired of being condescended to.’
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell made the following remarks on the Senate floor today regarding the Restoring Americans' Healthcare Freedom Reconciliation Act:
“Middle Class Americans continue to call on Washington to build a bridge away from Obamacare. They want better care. They want real health reform.
“For too long, Democrats did everything to prevent Congress from passing the type of legislation necessary to help these Americans who are hurting.
“Today, that ends.
“Today, a Middle Class that’s suffered enough from a partisan law will see the Senate vote to build a bridge past Obamacare and toward better care.
“The Restoring Americans' Healthcare Freedom Reconciliation Act we're debating deserves the support of every member of this body.
“Because here’s what we all know.
“Obamacare is a direct attack on the Middle Class.
“It’s riddled with higher costs and broken promises.
“It’s defined by failure.
“It’s punctuated with hopelessness.
“And the scale of its many broken promises is matched only by the scale of its defenders’ rigid and unfeeling responses to them.
“Let’s consider just a few now.
“Americans were promised they could keep their health plans if they liked them.
“It’s a promise Democrats made to sell Obamacare, and it’s a promise they broke.
“Americans could only keep their plans if the President liked them. Millions saw the coverage they liked ripped away as a result of a callous and partisan law.
“Democrats’ response to their broken promise? They tried to dismiss stories about folks losing insurance by saying they had lousy plans anyway—that they should be grateful the government was taking them away.
“The American people took a different view.
“Here’s a note I received from a constituent in Caldwell County when her family lost their plan:
I was lied to by the President and Congress when we were told that the ‘Affordable’ Care Act would not require us to switch from our current insurance provider. My husband and I work hard, pay a lot in taxes and ask for little from our government. Is it asking too much for government to stay out of my health insurance?
“Americans were promised that Obamacare would lower costs, and even bring down premiums by $2,500 per family.
“It’s a promise Democrats made to sell Obamacare, and it’s a promise they broke.
“Just last night, we learned from the government’s own actuaries that Obamacare is leading to higher health care costs. We also know that premiums continue to shoot up by double-digits in many areas, including Kentucky.
“Democrats’ response to their broken promise? President Obama said that Americans who already had health insurance ‘may not know that they’ve got a better deal now [under Obamacare] than they did, but they do.’
“The American people took a different view.
“One Kentuckian wrote me after being forced into an Obamacare plan she called ‘subpar’ with a nearly $5,000 deductible. ‘I cried myself to sleep,’ she said. ’‘I work hard for every penny I earn,’ and this ’is unacceptable.’
“Americans were promised that Obamacare would create millions of jobs.
“It’s a promise Democrats made to sell Obamacare, and it’s a promise they broke.
“Obamacare is leading to fewer jobs, not more of them. In Kentucky, our Democrat Governor once declared it an ‘undisputed fact’ that Obamacare's Medicaid expansion had added 12,000 jobs to Kentucky’s economy. But as Kentuckians now know, he was undisputedly wrong. Not only did those jobs fail to materialize, but healthcare jobs have actually declined in Kentucky since the passage of Obamacare.
“Democrats’ response to their broken promise? I think this headline about the comments from a senior Democrat captures it perfectly: ‘Obamacare allows workers to ‘escape’ their jobs.’
“The American people took a different view.
“A constituent from Somerset wrote to tell me that Obamacare’s mandates were causing her to lose up to eleven hours per week at work, which meant about $440 less in her pocket every month. ‘Obamacare [is] causing us to lose hours [and] lose wages,’ she said, ’Yet expecting us to spend more.’
“Americans were promised that Obamacare wouldn’t touch Medicare.
“Americans were promised that taxes wouldn’t increase.
“Americans were promised that shopping for Obamacare would be as a simple as shopping ‘for a TV on Amazon.’
“Three more promises. Three more betrayals.
“And on and on it has gone.
“For more than five long years.
“Democrats need to understand that it’s time to face up to the pain and failure their law has caused
“They can keep trying to talk past the Middle Class. They can keep trying to deny reality. But they have to realize that no one is buying the spin but them.
“Americans are living with the consequences of this broken law and its broken promises every day. Its negative effects are often felt in the most personal and visceral ways. And Americans are tired of being condescended to.
“They want change and they want a bridge to better care, not Obamacare.
“This bill offers it.
“I think Democrats have a particular responsibility to the millions their law has hurt already to help pass it.
“I think the President has a particular responsibility to the millions his law has hurt already to then sign it.
“That’s the best way to build a bridge to a fresh start—to a better, healthier, and stronger beginning.”
Related Issues: Health Care, Obamacare, Senate Democrats, Middle Class
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