[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 8]
[Senate]
[Pages 10461-10462]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        KING V. BURWELL DECISION

  Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, earlier today the Supreme Court issued its 
long-awaited ruling in King v. Burwell. As we now know, the Court has 
once again decided to rule against common sense and the plain meaning 
of statutory language in order to uphold the poorly drafted Affordable 
Care Act--which, by the way, Justice Roberts says has a lot of 
ambiguity and poor draftsmanship. Even worse, with today's decision, 
the Court's ruling failed to hold the Obama administration accountable 
for its reckless execution of its own law.
  The plain text of the Affordable Care Act authorizes subsidies only 
through State exchanges, not the Federal exchange. This decision will 
allow the administration to continue to ignore the law in order to 
implement its own preferred policies.

[[Page 10462]]

  (Mrs. FISCHER assumed the Chair.)
  As Justice Scalia said in his dissent, ``We should start calling this 
law SCOTUScare.'' Only Justice Scalia would come up with something like 
that, which I find extremely humorous.
  Justice Scalia continued, saying:

       Perhaps the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will 
     attain the enduring status of the Social Security Act or the 
     Taft-Hartley Act; perhaps not. But this Court's two decisions 
     on the Act will surely be remembered through the years. The 
     somersaults of statutory interpretation . . . they have 
     performed will be cited by litigants endlessly, to the 
     confusion of honest jurisprudence. And the cases publish 
     forever the discouraging truth that the Supreme Court of the 
     United States favors some laws over others, and is prepared 
     to do whatever it takes to assist its favorites.

  I couldn't have said it any better myself.
  Needless to say, I am disappointed at this decision, as I know many 
throughout the country are, but at the same time I am undeterred.
  As I said on the floor last week, ObamaCare has been nothing but a 
long series of broken promises that include skyrocketing costs, reduced 
access to care, and more government mandates hanging over our health 
care system.
  Today's ruling changes none of that. Just because the Court decided 
to misinterpret, in my opinion, the statute doesn't mean that the law 
suddenly works and that all is now right with the world. For the good 
of our health care system and hardworking taxpayers throughout our 
country, we still need to chart a new course on health care policy. 
Unfortunately, with the current occupant of the White House, those 
kinds of reforms are not currently possible.
  But make no mistake, Republicans in Congress have a plan to help the 
American people by repealing ObamaCare and replacing it with reforms 
that will put patients--not Washington bureaucrats--in charge of their 
own health care decisions.
  I am coauthor of the Patient CARE Act, a legislative proposal that 
would replace ObamaCare with real reforms that would actually reduce 
health costs without all the burdensome mandates that have come part 
and parcel with the so-called Affordable Care Act--which is anything 
but affordable. Moving forward, I, along with the coauthors of this 
proposal, Senator Burr and Chairman Upton over in the House, will 
continue to seek input from experts and stakeholders and use every 
opportunity to give States more freedom and flexibility.
  Once again, any workable reform must lower costs and put patients 
first. That is the only way we will end the negative consequences of 
ObamaCare and help the American people move past this misguided attempt 
at health care reform.
  The American people deserve better, and Republicans in Congress are 
united in our commitment to make sure we do better on health care 
reform in the future.
  Now, I had suspected that this is the way the court would decide and 
it is a big enough bill that extremely clever judges could find a way 
to rule how they did today. And there are few justices as clever as the 
Chief Justice. I have tremendous respect for him.
  And though he used his talents to uphold this law, he did it with 
aplomb and unparalleled legal skill. I have had colleagues bad-mouth 
the Chief Justice for this case and especially the Sebelius case.
  What few of my colleagues remember, however, is that in the Sebelius 
decision, the Chief Justice led the way to preserve for States the 
right to make their own decisions with regard to whether to undertake a 
Medicaid expansion or not.
  Under Obamacare, the Democrats wanted to force the hands of the 
States--either expand the program, or you would lose all access to 
Medicaid funds.
  That was coercion, pure and simple, and the Court ruled accordingly. 
And Justice Roberts wrote the opinion, which was joined, at least with 
regard to the Medicaid expansion, by all conservative justices on the 
Court.
  The Court's decision preserved a real and meaningful choice for the 
States, and States have used that ability to choose in different ways. 
Some have expanded Medicaid. Some have not. Some have tried to use 
waiver authority to craft solutions that work for them. This 
flexibility is how it should work.
  All I can say is that the Chief Justice is a remarkable judge. He is 
a tremendous human being. I have a tremendous confidence in him and I 
believe in him. I differ with him on this opinion though. This ruling 
will not solve any of the problems inherent in Obamacare, as we can see 
from the continually sky-rocketing costs of health care and insurance 
coverage.
  As I have said, clever judges can find ambiguities where none exist. 
Clever judges can find ambiguities that others may not be able to find. 
And despite the Chief Justice's brilliance and integrity of character, 
we need to repeal Obamacare and replace it with something better.
  I believe, with Chairman Upton in the House, and Senator Burr, that 
the Patient CARE Act is one of the best solutions out there. I urge all 
of my colleagues to read through our proposal and offer constructive 
criticism. We need an off-ramp from Obamacare to an actually 
affordable, and privatized, health care system. Only then can we give 
every day Americans the economic growth and prosperity they deserve.
  With that, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Colorado.

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