[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 12 (Monday, January 23, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S367-S368]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   REPEALING AND REPLACING OBAMACARE

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, we have seen quite clearly over the 
last 8 years which policies do not work. We now have the opportunity to 
try policies that can work. ObamaCare offers a great example. Democrats 
came into office in 2009 with a promise to unify the country and big 
majorities that allowed them to ignore half of it. They

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made their choice with partisan, highly ideological laws like ObamaCare 
that divided us further--and often made things worse. We have seen how 
ObamaCare, in particular, has hurt the middle class. Choices are 
dwindling, costs are skyrocketing, and too many middle-class families 
don't know how much more they can sustain.
  This is why we promise to repeal and replace ObamaCare, and this is 
why we will meet our responsibility to do so. ObamaCare came into this 
world on a party-line vote and a flurry of Executive actions, and it 
can leave the same way. What repeal presents is a fresh canvas where we 
can start over with durable, lasting reforms that both parties--if they 
choose to engage--can take credit for.
  I hope our Democratic friends choose to engage. I hope they join in 
the hard work of improving health care for the American people because, 
let us remember, this should not be about winning or losing. It isn't 
about scoring points. It is about replacing a law that doesn't work 
with reforms that can. It is as simple as that. You can hardly accuse 
President Trump of being a rigid ideologue. He is interested in health 
care that actually works. Americans are interested in health care that 
actually works. All of us are.
  So we can work together to finally solve big problems like ObamaCare 
or we can continue to bludgeon each other election after election. Our 
Democratic friends can crank the faux outrage machine up to 10, claim 
Republicans are motivated by some desire to make America sick, and get 
right back to the Hatfield-and-McCoy routine, but that will not solve 
the problem or move us forward. The moment calls for something more.
  The question now is whether we have the courage to begin binding our 
national wounds. We can fight about the things that divide us forever 
or we can take a moment to finally move forward as one country.

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