[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 7]
[Senate]
[Page 9839]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              HEALTH CARE

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, a few months back one of our Democratic 
colleagues warned of a huge train wreck on the horizon--the 
implementation of ObamaCare. Yesterday we received another warning as 
ObamaCare speeds down the tracks. This one came from the Government 
Accountability Office, which highlighted a number of missed deadlines 
that cast doubt on the ability of the administration to even get the 
law up and running by October 1.
  Of course, the GAO is not the first to issue such warnings. Some of 
us have been sounding a similar call literally for years. What we have 
said is that ObamaCare is set to become a bureaucratic nightmare. Most 
of the law's key provisions have not even been implemented yet. Not a 
single American has signed up for an exchange. Already it is turning 
into one big mess.
  It was not hard to see this coming. We are talking about a 2,700-page 
piece of legislation. We are talking about a law that has already 
generated more than 20,000 pages of regulations--literally a redtape 
tower 7 feet tall. We are talking about an edict that proposes to alter 
one of the most personal, most private aspects of our lives in a 
fundamental way. So it does not take an expert to understand what that 
leads to--reams of paperwork; a massive new bureaucracy; the 
coordination of numerous, hulking government agencies, including, of 
course, the IRS.
  It cannot be done without the people the government is attempting to 
regulate--the doctors, the hospitals, States, small businesses, 
hundreds of millions of Americans--actually having a clue how to 
comply. Nobody knows how to comply. The law is maddeningly complex. So, 
of course, ObamaCare is going to be a mess--going to be a mess. We said 
it would be. Actually, it already is. Yet earlier this month the 
President said that ObamaCare was ``working the way it is supposed 
to.'' That is literally what he said.
  Maybe that is why just yesterday a survey of Americans showed that 
only 19 percent--fewer than one in five--believe ObamaCare will make 
their family better off--only 19 percent. It found that a much greater 
number--roughly half of Americans--worried about losing the health care 
coverage they already have.
  There was another survey released too, a survey of small business 
owners. It found that 41 percent of small business owners said they had 
frozen hiring, literally quit hiring people because of ObamaCare--41 
percent of small businesses. About 20 percent said they had already 
reduced their workforces because of it. Forty percent quit hiring 
people and 20 percent reduced their workforce because of ObamaCare. 
Remember, this is a law that is still being implemented, and many 
businesses already seem to be laying people off. I hope that is not a 
preview of what we will see once ObamaCare actually comes online. But 
given the evidence thus far, it is hard to draw a different conclusion.
  The Kentucky Retail Federation recently cited ObamaCare as the thing 
having the most impact on their businesses' ability to grow. As the 
leader of that group put it, the companies in his federation are 
hesitant to take on new staff or to invest in their own business growth 
until they know how much health care reform is going to cost.
  So if this is the law that is ``working the way it is supposed to,'' 
then it is obviously a very bad law. It is Congress's duty to repeal 
bad laws. I hope that it will. I hope my Democratic friends here in the 
Senate will finally work with us to do just that because we cannot do 
it without them. They have the majority. If they can muster the will to 
admit their mistake, I hope they can also find the will to work with us 
to start fresh on health care. This time, I hope they will actually 
work together with Republicans to get something done for the American 
people. In my view, that means pursuing effective, step-by-step reforms 
that cannot only lower costs but they can also be implemented 
effectively and understood completely by the constituents we were sent 
here to serve. I know my constituents back in Kentucky would expect as 
much of us, and frankly they should expect that much of us.

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