[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 12]
[Senate]
[Pages 17348-17349]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                               OBAMACARE

  Mr. THUNE. Madam President, a Bloomberg headline Monday noted: ``Half 
of the Senators Who Voted for ObamaCare Will be Gone in 2015.'' 
ObamaCare, it seems, has not been kind to the party that jammed it 
through Congress.
  In fact, the third ranking Democrat in the Senate admitted as much 2 
weeks ago when he told an audience that Democrats made a mistake after 
the 2008 election by putting all their focus on passing a health care 
law. He further said:

       Unfortunately, Democrats blew the opportunity the American 
     people gave them. We took their mandate and put all of our 
     focus on the wrong problem--health care reform.

  Now, as a result, my colleague from New York said: ``The average 
middle-class person thought, `the Democrats aren't paying enough 
attention to me.'''
  Well, Democrats weren't paying enough attention to middle-class 
families. The American people didn't support the health care law, and 
they made that clear. But Democrats just ignored their objections and 
forced it through anyway.
  They were far from frank about what was in the bill. In fact, 
ObamaCare architect Jonathan Gruber essentially admitted that Democrats 
were deliberatively deceptive when passing their health reform law. 
Gruber said:

       This bill was written in a tortured way to make sure CBO 
     did not score the mandate as taxes. . . . Lack of 
     transparency is a huge political advantage. And basically, 
     call it the `stupidity of the American voter' or whatever, 
     but basically that was really, really critical to getting the 
     thing to pass.

  That is from Jonathan Gruber, as I said, an architect of ObamaCare.
  Well, 4\1/2\ years after the law has passed, it is clear Americans 
were right to be concerned. The law that was supposed to reduce the 
cost of health care for American families is actually driving up 
prices.
  Each Friday my office puts out a document featuring the ObamaCare 
headlines of the week. I would like to read a few headlines from the 
past week that I think give a picture of where we are with this law.
  This is from the Associated Press: ``Healthcare.gov average premiums 
going up in 2015.'' From the Wall Street Journal: ``More Cost of Health 
Care Shifts to Consumers.'' From Businessweek: ``Obamacare's Future: 
Cancer Patients Paying More for Medication.'' From Gallup: ``Cost Still 
a Barrier Between Americans and Medical Care.'' From the Fiscal Times: 
``High Deductible Plans Have More People Delaying Treatment.'' From 
U.S. News & World Report: ``Americans Unhappy With Obamacare Shopping 
Experience.'' And from The Hill: ``Security Flaws Found in Obamacare 
Fee Calculator.''
  And I could go on. Those are just headlines from last week. I could 
read similar headlines from the week before and from the week before 
that.
  Any way you look at it, ObamaCare is a mess. The President promised 
the law would lower premiums by $2,500. In fact, the average family 
health care premium has increased by $3,064 since the law was passed, 
and family premiums are still going up.
  The President promised Americans could keep the health care plans 
they had and liked. In reality, ObamaCare has forced millions of 
Americans off their plans.
  The President promised that Americans would be able to keep the 
doctors they liked. In fact, Americans have lost the doctors they liked 
and trusted, not to mention access to convenient hospitals and needed 
medications.
  The President promised that shopping for ObamaCare would be like 
shopping on Amazon or Kayak. The reality is the President's own former 
Health and Human Services Secretary recently admitted it was more like 
buying an airline ticket using your fax machine.
  We are still just talking about the ways ObamaCare has harmed 
Americans' health care. But the damage hasn't been confined to health 
care. ObamaCare is also hurting our already sluggish economy.
  Take the ObamaCare tax on lifesaving medical devices, such as 
pacemakers and insulin pumps. This tax has already eliminated thousands 
of jobs in the medical device industry, and it is on track to eliminate 
thousands more if it isn't repealed. In fact, this tax is so bad that 
even Democrats who voted for ObamaCare support repealing the tax.
  Then there is the ObamaCare 30-hour workweek rule, which has forced 
employers to cut workers' hours and wages, and there are the numerous--
numerous--ObamaCare rules and regulations that are making it difficult 
for small businesses to hire and create jobs. It is no wonder that 
Democrats are rethinking their decisions to support this law.
  Americans have made it clear they do not like ObamaCare, and 
Republicans are listening. One of our top priorities when we take the 
majority in the Senate in the new Congress will be working to repeal 
this law and replacing it with real reforms--reforms that will actually 
cut costs and improve Americans' access to health care.
  In the meantime, we will focus on chiseling away at the law's most 
harmful provisions. We want to repeal the job-killing medical device 
tax and restore the 40-hour workweek so that employers will no longer 
be forced to cut workers' hours in order to afford health care costs. 
Many Democrats as well as Republicans opposed these ObamaCare 
provisions, so I look forward to bipartisan repeals.

[[Page 17349]]

  The senior Senator from New York was right when he said Democrats 
made a mistake when they decided to focus on the President's health 
care law instead of on jobs and the economy. In poll after poll, 
Americans have made it clear they want their representatives in 
Washington focused on creating jobs and on growing the economy, and 
that is what the new Republican majority in the Senate intends to do.
  We will take up legislation to approve the Keystone XL Pipeline and 
the 42,000-plus jobs it would support. We will take up House-passed 
bills that have been gathering dust on the Democratic leader's desk.
  We will work with the President to expand trade promotion authority 
to open new markets for American agricultural products and manufactured 
goods, and we will take up legislation to repeal the President's 
national energy tax, which could eliminate tens of thousands--hundreds 
of thousands--of jobs and devastate entire communities.
  We also intend to take up big projects that would help put our 
economy on a path to long-term health, such as legislation to simplify 
and streamline our costly and inefficient Tax Code.
  The election results were pretty decisive. Americans made it very 
clear they were tired of the Democrats' policies and they wanted a 
change in Washington, and Republicans are listening. Our priorities in 
the next Congress will be the American people's priorities. We will 
focus on creating jobs and growing our economy, and we hope the 
Democrats will join us. The American people have been waiting long 
enough.
  Madam President, I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a 
quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. COBURN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  Mr. CARPER. I object, just for a moment.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  The assistant bill clerk continued with the call of the roll.
  Mr. COBURN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. COBURN. I ask unanimous consent to speak for at least 5 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


  

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