[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 11]
[House]
[Page 15640]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          OBAMACARE ARCHITECT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Tennessee (Mrs. Black) for 5 minutes.
  Mrs. BLACK. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to call attention to the 
disturbing remarks that have recently surfaced from one of the key 
architects of ObamaCare.
  It is no secret that the ObamaCare was built on broken promise after 
broken promise. Millions of Americans' insurance plans have been 
canceled; they have lost access to their doctors and hospitals; and 
instead of reducing premiums by $2,500, like the President promised, 
premiums are skyrocketing across our Nation. And now we have seen one 
of the key designers of the Affordable Care Act candidly discuss the 
smoke and mirrors that went into getting this disastrous law passed in 
the first place.
  Indeed, Mr. Gruber bragged about the lack of transparency involved in 
the process of passing this 2,000-page bill, even gaming the bill 
language so that it could not be scored properly by the Congressional 
Budget Office. Mr. Gruber refers to the ``stupidity of the American 
voter'' as a necessary component to getting ObamaCare passed and signed 
into law. This is outrageous. On behalf of my constituents in 
Tennessee's Sixth District and Americans across this country, I reject 
this assertion from one of ObamaCare's key architects.
  The American people are much wiser than this. After all, at no point 
in time has ObamaCare been popular with the public. Before it was even 
passed, the American people did everything they could to stop it, even 
electing a Republican senator in the blue State of Massachusetts to be 
the deciding vote against it. But the Democrat majority maneuvered 
their way around the will of the people, passing it anyway. And despite 
the underhanded efforts of this law's designer, it was still unpopular 
with the American voters when it passed. The law has remained unpopular 
to this day, and dozens upon dozens of Democrat lawmakers who were 
responsible for its passage have lost their jobs since its passage.
  American voters aren't stupid, as ObamaCare's designer says. To the 
contrary, they have repeatedly raised their objections to this 
government takeover of our health care system. In fact, a majority of 
Americans still say they wish ObamaCare had never passed. And that is 
why as recently as last week they sent majorities in both Chambers of 
Congress to Washington to dismantle this maliciously conceived 
boondoggle.
  Mr. Speaker, ObamaCare is arguably the worst piece of legislation to 
be passed in a generation. The law is such a mess that it may collapse 
under a review by the Supreme Court next year. The American people get 
this even if the law's designers do not. That is why they continue to 
send my colleagues and I to Washington to fight to protect them from 
this disastrous law.

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