[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 100 (Monday, June 22, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4336-S4337]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        KING V. BURWELL DECISION

  Mr. CORNYN. Madam President, I come to the floor to speak for a few 
minutes about the disaster that is known as ObamaCare and specifically 
the Supreme Court's upcoming decision in King v. Burwell, which we 
anticipate will be handed down later this week or perhaps as late as 
Monday. This case will decide whether the IRS can rewrite the law, and 
it actually challenges the legality of the subsidies to health care 
policies affecting people in up to 37 States.
  If the Court rules against the IRS, that would be the third strike 
against ObamaCare in the Supreme Court. What more evidence would we 
possibly need of this administration's routine overreach of its 
authority under the Constitution?
  Not surprisingly, the President once again has failed to accept 
responsibility for this flawed law that bears his name, and he has 
suggested that Congress could simply fix the problem with a one-
sentence provision. In other words, even though President Obama and 
congressional Democrats jammed this partisan monstrosity through all by 
themselves in 2010, somehow, after three strikes in the U.S. Supreme 
Court, it is now our responsibility to clean up the mess.
  But what is wrong with ObamaCare far exceeds the issue at hand in 
King v. Burwell. I hear of the disastrous effects of ObamaCare every 
day from folks back home in Texas. They know, as do I, that a one-
sentence provision won't fix a 2,700-page legislative disaster, unless 
that sentence were to repeal ObamaCare in its entirety.
  If somehow this administration and congressional Democrats could be 
sued for misleading consumers under the usual legal standards, the case 
brought by millions of Americans against ObamaCare would be a slam 
dunk. The President claimed his law would help everyone--miraculously 
decreasing costs, increasing access, and reducing the deficit--when, in 
fact, time after time after time, the opposite has been shown to be the 
case. What we have seen instead has been great damage to the health 
care system in this country, leaving many Americans with their health 
care disrupted, their work hours cut, and higher costs for their health 
coverage.
  Although proponents of the law, including the President and 
Democratic Members of Congress, claimed ObamaCare would reduce the 
financial burden of health care for American families, this has not 
been the case. In fact, one study found that ObamaCare actually 
increased individual market premiums by an average of almost 50 percent 
between 2013 and 2014. So rather than make health care more affordable, 
what ObamaCare did is to make it less affordable and more expensive by 
increasing individual market premiums by an average of almost 50 
percent.
  Recently, the administration released rate filings showing that 
insurers have requested double-digit premium increases for nearly 700 
plans next year. So double-digit increases have been requested.
  We can all remember the President's repeated promises that under 
ObamaCare those who wanted to keep their plans would be able to do so. 
In fact, the Associated Press has documented that more than 4.7 million 
Americans had insurance plans they liked that were canceled by 
ObamaCare.
  And of course, just last week President Obama himself called the Web 
site platform for his trademark legislation--healthcare.gov--``a well-
documented disaster.''
  The fact that this failed law has hurt patients is bad enough, but 
the truth is it is also hurting the economy and hurting jobs. The 
Congressional Budget Office has estimated that ObamaCare is forcing 
employers to cut jobs and has projected that as many as 2 million jobs 
could be lost by 2017.
  If the Court rules for King, the plaintiff in the lawsuit, millions 
more Americans could find their health care coverage temporarily 
disrupted--just one more painful consequence of this reckless piece of 
legislation.
  Clearly, ObamaCare was not the silver bullet for our health care 
system or our economy. Instead, what we know today is that ObamaCare 
really just amounted to a trail of broken promises. But you will never 
find the President or those who foisted this flawed legislation upon 
the American people taking responsibility for it. Rather, as I said 
earlier, somehow they think it is for somebody else to clean up their 
mess.
  I continue to believe the American people would be well served to see 
this entire law scrapped in favor of real patient-centered reforms that 
lower costs and increase access to care. I thought that was what health 
care reform was supposed to be about--lowering cost and improving 
access to care. But ObamaCare did the opposite.
  I am here to say that while Republicans did not create this mess, we 
are

[[Page S4337]]

ready, willing, and able to do our best to protect the American people 
from any more harm caused by the President's flawed law. That is why we 
have been working hard for the last several months to provide the 
American people with a much needed off-ramp from ObamaCare, should the 
Court rule against the administration once again. But we really need to 
hit the reset button and start over again.
  First and foremost, we are prepared to help the more than 6 million 
Americans, including nearly 1 million people in my home State of Texas, 
whose costs would suddenly skyrocket as yet another consequence of this 
disastrous piece of legislation. In doing so, we will empower the 
States to opt out of ObamaCare, allowing them the flexibility to more 
effectively lower costs and increase choices.
  We will not promote command-and-control solutions emanating from here 
in Washington, under the philosophy that Washington knows best. We will 
promote market-based options without the threat of harmful, onerous, 
expensive mandates. Repealing these mandates will help the American 
people finally get the coverage they need at a price they can afford.
  In short, we will do everything in our power to protect the people 
affected by this flawed piece of legislation, but we will not protect 
the President's failed law. It is time to scrap it and do better. It is 
my hope, if the Court rules against the administration once again, that 
Congress will find it within themselves to work together to protect the 
almost 1 million Texans and millions more Americans from yet another 
painful consequence of ObamaCare. I know Republicans stand ready to 
protect the American people from this failed law while providing a path 
forward for better health care for our country. That health care 
includes more freedom, more flexibility, and more choices.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. SANDERS. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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