Restoring Americans' Healthcare Freedom Reconciliation Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, when Washington Democrats passed ObamaCare over the objections of the American people, they were confident Americans would soon warm up to this new law, but more than 5 years later, the American people continue to oppose this unprecedented Democratic attack on their health care. Is it any wonder? When Americans think ObamaCare, they think increased costs, runaway premiums, surging deductibles, and tax hikes on the middle class. When Americans think ObamaCare, they think decreased choice, fewer doctors, far-away hospitals, and a frightening scarcity of options for too many when they get sick. When Americans think ObamaCare, they think broken promises and endless failure, imploding State-based exchanges, collapsing co-ops, insurers eyeing the exit door, fewer jobs, and the lie of the year: If you like your health care plan, you can keep it. It is not as though ObamaCare's structural failures are just going to go away. They are baked right into the law. They only seem to get worse as time moves along.

Just as we have seen costs rise, choices narrow, and failures mount, we have seen congressional Democrats block attempts to start over with real health care reform. Well, this week we finally have a chance to vote to end ObamaCare's cycle of broken promises and failures with just 51 votes. This week we will take up the Restoring Americans' Healthcare Freedom Reconciliation Act of 2015 that already passed the House of Representatives. It is a bill that will take the first steps necessary to build a bridge away from ObamaCare. By building upon the House's good work, this bill will also save billions in spending and eliminate more than a $1 trillion tax burden on the American people.

By employing the same tactics Democrats used to help get ObamaCare across the finish line, this bill will not be subject to a filibuster. In other words, it cannot be blocked by defenders of ObamaCare's failed status quo. In other words, the President cannot be shielded from the weighty decision he will finally have to make when this measure lands right on his desk. When the President picks up his pen, he will have a real choice to make. He may decide to stick to his rhetoric that the law is working better than even he intended and veto the bill, but he should instead decide to finally stand with the middle class that has suffered enough from this failed law and actually sign it. We will see. It is a choice the President has never faced before. It is a choice he is going to face after Senate action this week.

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