[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 3]
[House]
[Page 4148]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   OBAMACARE WILL LEAD TO DESTRUCTION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Tennessee (Mrs. Black) for 5 minutes.
  Mrs. BLACK. Mr. Speaker, ObamaCare is a fundamentally unfair law that 
is hurting the middle class and lower-income Americans across the 
country.
  In fact, just this week, the labor union Unite Here issued a scathing 
report on the President's health care law, charging ObamaCare will lead 
to the destruction of the health care plans for their members and the 
like, and it will make inequality in our Nation worse.
  Unite Here was the first labor union to endorse the then-Senator 
Obama in his race for President in 2008. So even one of the President's 
closest union allies has turned against ObamaCare because, as they 
report, it will hit the average, hard-working American where it hurts 
the most, in the wallet.
  The President and congressional Democrats sold this law as something 
that would reduce health care costs for the American people.
  It is completely unfair to force the people to participate in a 
program that doesn't live up to that promise. This law was supposed to 
help insure the uninsured; yet it has never been more unpopular among 
those without health insurance.
  In fact, a recent Kaiser Family Foundation poll found that 56 percent 
of the uninsured have an unfavorable opinion of ObamaCare.
  A recent McKinsey study found that affordability was the number one 
reason cited by the uninsured for why they aren't signing up. The 
uninsured who cannot afford ObamaCare are set to be hit with another 
cold reality of the President's signature health care law: they will be 
penalized for being put into this situation.
  The President has the audacity to fine hard-working Americans for not 
being able to afford his costly and disastrous health care product. 
This despite the fact that he has exempted big business from ObamaCare, 
and members of his own administration do not have to purchase ObamaCare 
plans for themselves.
  This kind of selective enforcement is unfair to low-income and middle 
class families. It is why, last week, my House Republican colleagues 
were joined by 27 Democrats to pass legislation to eliminate the 
individual mandate tax penalty under ObamaCare for 1 year.
  Through ObamaCare, the President is marginalizing the very people he 
says he wants to help, and now, even his closest allies have taken 
notice.
  Mr. Speaker, President Obama's labor union friends are right. 
ObamaCare is destructive to low- and middle-income families, and the 
politicians who are responsible for this train wreck must be held 
accountable.

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