Floor Statements

On June 28, the U.S. Supreme Court dealt a devastating blow to the American people. In a sharply divided opinion, the court upheld the president’s decision to tax individuals who don’t purchase government-approved health insurance. If Washington can dictate that private citizens must buy health insurance and impose higher taxes when they fail to do so, it is difficult to conceive of any limit on federal power.

While I disagree with the court’s ruling, that is not the focus of our debate today. We are here, instead, to overturn a flawed and failed law. The government takeover of health care is destroying jobs. It is raising health care costs. It is the wrong prescription for an ailing economy. It must be repealed. We promised the American people no less, and we owe it to them  to keep our promise.

The need for repeal has grown more urgent in light of Friday’s disappointing jobs report, which marked the 41st consecutive month of unemployment greater than 8 percent. A close examination of the health care law explains how it’s contributing to the jobs crisis facing this nation. Hundreds of additional boards and bureaucracies, thousands of pages of complex regulations, billions of dollars in tax hikes, and trillions of dollars in new government spending– these are the burdens the health care law has piled on the backs of working families and job creators.

For more than two years, the law has crippled our economy and undermined employers’ ability to grow their businesses and hire new workers. This is not just my opinion. We see evidence from job creators across the country.

Gail Johnson, an employer from Virginia, said the law will “ultimately slow or stall the growth of small and midsized businesses as we struggle with the costly new requirements."

Speaking of the law’s draconian tax on medical devices, Denis Johnson, vice president of a medical device manufacturing facility in Indiana, said it will “undoubtedly force us to cut critical R&D funding and inhibit job creation and retention."

And Will Knetch, president of a family owned manufacturing company in Pennsylvania, testified that “the shear monstrous size of the [law] intimidates most Americans and provides so many unknowns for the business community, it is scary.”

Without any doubt, Americans are concerned about getting this economy moving and putting people back to work. As these and other employers have accurately described, one of the greatest obstacles standing in the way of economic growth and prosperity is the president’s health care law.

Through his government takeover of health care, the president has created a destructive roadblock to lowering health care costs and private-sector job creation, and he has disrupted the careful balance of power between the people and their government.

Whether at congressional hearings, in public forums, or at the ballot box, the American people have spoken: they want their elected leaders to repeal ObamaCare so we can pave the way to private-sector job growth and lower health care costs. The American people deserve repeal. I urge my colleagues to stop defending a broken law and start standing by the American people. I urge my colleagues to vote “yes” on H.R. 6079.

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