[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 103 (Thursday, June 25, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4633-S4634]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                        KING V. BURWELL DECISION

  Mr. CRUZ. Mr. President, today's decision in King v. Burwell is 
judicial activism, plain and simple. For the second time in just a few 
years, a handful of unelected judges has rewritten the text of 
ObamaCare in order to impose that failed law upon millions of 
Americans. The first time, the Court ignored Federal law and magically 
transformed a statutory ``penalty'' into a ``tax.'' Today, these robed 
Houdinis have transmogrified a ``Federal exchange'' into an exchange 
``established by the State.'' This is lawless.
  As Justice Scalia rightfully put it, ``Words no longer have meaning 
if an exchange that is not established by a State is `established by 
the State.' '' Justice Scalia continues: ``We should start calling this 
law SCOTUScare.'' I agree.
  If this were a bankruptcy case or any other case of ordinary 
statutory interpretation, the results would have been 9 to 0, with the 
Court unanimously reversing the Obama administration's illegal actions. 
But instead, politics intervened. For nakedly political reasons, the 
Supreme Court willfully ignored the words that Congress wrote, and 
instead read into the law their preferred policy outcome. These 
Justices have joined with President Obama in harming millions of 
Americans. Unelected judges have once again become legislators--and bad 
ones at that. They are lawless, and they hide their prevarication in 
legalese. Our government was designed to be one of laws, not of men, 
and this transparent distortion is disgraceful.
  These Justices are not behaving as umpires calling balls and strikes. 
They have joined a team, and it is a team that is hurting Americans 
across this country. ObamaCare is the biggest job killer in America. 
Millions of Americans have lost their jobs, have been forced into part-
time work, have lost their health insurance, have lost their doctors. 
Millions of Americans have seen their health insurance premiums 
skyrocket, and it is a direct result of President Obama, of Democrats 
in the Congress, and of lawless Justices at the U.S. Supreme Court who 
have joined the team of the Obama administration. If those Justices 
want to become legislators, I invite them to resign and run for office. 
That is the appropriate place to write laws--on this floor, not from 
that courtroom.
  I began my career as a law clerk of the U.S. Supreme Court, clerking 
for Chief Justice William Rehnquist, one of the greatest Chief Justices 
ever to serve our Nation. I have spent the majority of my adult life 
litigating before the U.S. Supreme Court, both on behalf of the State 
of Texas and on behalf of private parties. What this Court has become 
is heartbreaking. If Chief Justice Rehnquist could see this Court 
today, he would be filled with sorrow at what has become of the Supreme 
Court of the United States.
  The obligation of fidelity to the Constitution and fidelity to law 
matters. We are not living in a platonic oligarchy with philosopher 
kings governing us who believe they get to write the laws, interpret 
the laws, and enforce the laws. That is not the American system of 
governance.
  At the same time, crocodile tears are flowing here in our Nation's 
Capital over the Supreme Court's decision to illegally rewrite 
ObamaCare, which has been a disaster since its inception. But one day 
of faux outrage from the Washington cartel won't fool the millions of 
courageous conservatives all across our country. They know that far too 
many career politicians--Democrats and Republicans--in this Nation's 
Capital are quietly celebrating the Court's decision. If they believe 
this issue is now settled so they don't have to address it, they are 
sorely mistaken.
  I have made repeal of this disastrous law a top priority since the 
very first day I entered into this body, and I have made its repeal 
central to my tenure in office. Republicans all across the country, 
including my friend the Presiding Officer, campaigned on repealing this 
law and were elected in a historic tidal wave year--historic majorities 
in both Chambers of this Congress and in statehouses all across the 
country. It is now up to us to keep our promises.
  I believe 2016 will be a national referendum on repealing ObamaCare. 
This law is profoundly unpopular. It is unpopular with Republicans, it 
is unpopular with Independents, it is unpopular with Democrats, it is 
unpopular with young people, it is unpopular with Hispanics, and it is 
unpopular with everybody it has hurt, and there are millions being hurt 
by this law.
  The Court adopted and put its stamp of approval on the IRS's 
blatantly unlawful reading of the statute to make subsidies and taxes 
applicable to individuals on Federal exchanges when Congress explicitly 
provided the opposite. Jonathan Gruber famously said Obamacare was 
built on exploiting the stupidity of the American people. Well, 
unfortunately the Supreme Court is now complicit in that deception. The 
Supreme Court has joined President Obama, whose statement ``if you like 
your health insurance plan, you can keep your health insurance plan'' 
was rightfully noted as the lie of the year as millions of Americans 
lost their doctors. Now those rogue Justices are complicit in that lie, 
in setting aside their oath of office to lie to the American people.
  After today's ruling, ObamaCare will now be responsible for imposing 
illegal taxes on more than 11 million individuals and for burdening 
hundreds of thousands of businesses with illegal penalties on their 
workers, killing jobs and further slowing economic growth.
  You are a young person right now. You come out of school. You have 
student loans up to your eyeballs. You are struggling. You don't know 
if you are going to get a job. The dismal Obama economy means your 
future is bleak. You have no hope or optimism of actually getting a 
career, getting skills, moving towards the American dream. Well, today 
the U.S. Supreme Court has joined arm in arm with President Obama and 
the IRS in illegally imposing taxes on you--you, that young person 
starting your career, struggling to make your student loan payments.
  Working as a part-time employee making coffee doesn't pay those 
payments, and yet you are stuck with the individual mandate, which is a 
tax, so says the Supreme Court and so the Obama Justice Department 
argued. Right after President Obama told the American people it wasn't 
a tax, the Obama Justice Department said yes, it is a tax. The Supreme 
Court agreed. You, the single person, the single mom trying to feed 
your kids, are paying an illegal tax because of the lies emanating from 
Washington, DC.
  You, the teenage immigrant, as my father was 58 years ago, washing 
dishes, making 50 cents an hour--he couldn't speak English, but he was 
filled with hopes and dreams. He was filled with an aspiration for the 
American dream. Ours is the greatest Nation in the history of the world 
because people can start with nothing and achieve anything. That is the 
promise of America.
  ObamaCare is strangling that promise. You, the teen, are paying 
illegal taxes right now today because of President Obama's deception, 
because of the IRS's lawlessness, and because of the Supreme Court's 
judicial activism, violating their oaths of office.
  I remain fully committed to repealing every single word of ObamaCare. 
Mark my words. Following the election in 2016, the referendum that we 
will have, in 2017, this Chamber will return and we will repeal every 
word of ObamaCare. We will bring back economic growth, we will bring 
back opportunity, and then we will pass commonsense health reform that 
makes health insurance personal, portable, and affordable and that 
keeps government from getting between us and our doctors.
  We will recognize that this horrible experiment has failed. When 
millions of Americans lose their jobs, are forced into part-time jobs, 
lose their health care, lose their doctors, when millions of Americans 
see their premiums skyrocket, it is incumbent on Members of this body, 
it is incumbent on the Federal Government to fix the wreckage they 
caused, to fix the wreckage the Supreme Court has now embraced 
lawlessly.
  We will repeal ObamaCare, and I will fight with every breath in my 
body to make sure that happens in 2017.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Ms. STABENOW. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.

[[Page S4634]]

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Ms. STABENOW. Mr. President, first I have to say that clearly there 
are two Americas on how we view health care, that is for sure, after 
hearing my colleague speak about the ``disaster'' of providing tens of 
millions of people health insurance, affordable health insurance.
  Where I live in Michigan, it is great that families no longer have to 
put the kids to bed and then say a little prayer: Dear God, don't let 
the kids get sick. For millions of Americans, the Supreme Court 
decision has reaffirmed the fact that they will have that peace of 
mind.
  When Chief Justice Roberts, writing for the majority today, said 
``Congress passed the Affordable Care Act to improve health insurance 
markets, not destroy them,'' I think he was absolutely right. I commend 
him and the majority--substantial majority--for understanding that in 
the competitive, private marketplace that we set up through insurance 
exchanges, we meant for all Americans to have the opportunity for the 
tax cuts that allow them to be able to purchase insurance, most people 
purchasing insurance for under $100 a month, which, contrary to 
destroying America, I think is making incredible differences in 
people's lives and creating the opportunity going forward for a 
competitive marketplace for small business.
  Certainly now, I hope from here that we will go forward and stop all 
of the repeal discussions and get down to the business of improving 
health care because I think there are still things we need to do. We 
need to look at how things are working and make sure things are going 
as well as possible, particularly with small businesses, and I feel we 
have some work to do. But it would be nice if we could get beyond the 
unfortunate commentary that has gone on for too long that somehow 
providing affordable health insurance for Americans is going to be the 
end of our country.
  I certainly think that on something like health care, where nobody 
controls whether they get sick or mom and dad get sick or the kids get 
sick or their friends get sick--we are in a situation where our job is 
to figure out the best way to support people taking responsibility to 
purchase insurance and make sure that it is affordable, high quality, 
and low cost. And that is something which we--in the greatest country 
in the world, with all of the innovators, all of the smart people we 
have, the wonderful doctors, the wonderful hospital facilities we have, 
certainly we can do that.
  That is, in fact, what is happening through health reform. Right now, 
16.4 million Americans who were without insurance before the Affordable 
Care Act now have the confidence and security of knowing they have 
health care coverage. Now, 6.4 million Americans, because of the 
Supreme Court decision, will be able to keep the tax credit. They are 
not going to see their taxes go up. They are going to be able to keep 
the tax credits that are going to allow them to make sure that 
insurance is affordable. That includes over 228,000 people in my home 
State of Michigan. That is a lot of people.
  What is also so incredibly important is that of those people who 
already have insurance--the majority of Americans--they are having 
better opportunities to keep it, not be blocked, not be dropped, not 
have caps.
  Some 129 million Americans have preexisting conditions, whether it is 
diabetes, juvenile diabetes, cancer. Colleagues here have been in 
situations of announcing various kinds of cancer, diseases, and so on. 
Some 129 million Americans--including 17 million children--no longer 
have a risk of being denied coverage because of the insurance company 
being able to stop them if they have a preexisting condition.


                    ``Beat the Press'' Softball Game

  I was with a wonderful group of women from Congress--if I can just 
divert from that serious moment to say that last night we raised money 
for breast cancer survivors in a wonderful game between the press and 
the women Members of Congress. Despite both teams doing a great job--I 
was very impressed with both sides, but the great news is that the 
Congresswomen won. We called it ``beat the press.'' It was great. But 
what was most important last night was seeing all the breast cancer 
survivors who were there, women who had been able to get that checkup, 
been able to get that treatment, knowing that going forward, wherever 
they work--if they move from one job to another, if they change 
insurance, they are still going to be able to get the coverage they 
need. They are going to be able to get that mammogram with no copay as 
preventive health care. They are going to be able to get the care they 
need. If they need treatment, they are not going to arbitrarily have an 
insurance company come in and say ``We don't really care what your 
doctor says about how many sessions you need or radiation treatments. 
You get 10 and that is it'' or ``You get 5 and that is it'' or whatever 
the number is.
  Mr. President, 129 million Americans with preexisting conditions 
today can breathe a sigh of relief because they are going to be able to 
continue to have the health insurance they need. Some 105 million 
Americans no longer have a lifetime cap on coverage, including mental 
health and substance abuse coverage, which is so very significant, and 
76 million Americans with private coverage are eligible for expanded 
preventive services, such as mammograms and prostate screening.
  We all wish our wonderful friend and colleague Senator King all the 
best as he gets his treatments next week. We know he will come back 
strong, as well as all of our colleagues who have been in similar 
situations.
  This is a big deal. This really is about saving lives. That is what 
this is all about. It is not a political game. It is not just going 
back and forth between Republicans and Democrats. This is health. This 
is medical care. If you get that horrible diagnosis--you are sitting in 
a doctor's office, and you are told you have cancer or a heart 
condition or any number of other things--you are going to be able to 
get medical care.
  We also know that consumers have saved $9 billion since 2011 because 
the law requires insurance companies to spend at least 80 cents on 
every dollar we give them on medical care. That was not always the 
case. You can get a rebate if they don't.
  So I hope that at this moment in time, we will stop the efforts to 
repeal health reform. I know it is in the budget that passed. The 
Republican budget--House and Senate--sets up a process to be able to go 
back and one more time try to repeal health insurance for tens of 
millions of Americans. I hope we will not do that. I hope the other 
side will not do that. We certainly will not do that. I hope that, 
instead, we will get about the business of making sure it works as well 
as possible and that we are strengthening the quality measures, the 
opportunities for competition, and continuing to bring rates down.
  We know that if health reform is repealed, it will increase deficits 
by hundreds of billions of dollars and cause 19 million Americans to 
lose their health insurance just next year, according to the budget 
office--19 million people--and 24 million people in the next few years. 
The Congressional Budget Office says that a repeal would result in a 
$353 billion increase in the budget.
  I congratulate the Supreme Court for common sense today and for 
understanding what we meant, what legislative intent was all about, and 
urge that we now decide we are going to work together on health care 
moving forward.

                          ____________________