King v. Burwell Decision

Floor Speech

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Mr. CRUZ. Mr. President, today's decision in King v. Burwell is judicial activism, plain and simple. For the second time in just a few years, a handful of unelected judges has rewritten the text of ObamaCare in order to impose that failed law upon millions of Americans. The first time, the Court ignored Federal law and magically transformed a statutory ``penalty'' into a ``tax.'' Today, these robed Houdinis have transmogrified a ``Federal exchange'' into an exchange ``established by the State.'' This is lawless.

As Justice Scalia rightfully put it, ``Words no longer have meaning if an exchange that is not established by a State is `established by the State.' '' Justice Scalia continues: ``We should start calling this law SCOTUScare.'' I agree.

If this were a bankruptcy case or any other case of ordinary statutory interpretation, the results would have been 9 to 0, with the Court unanimously reversing the Obama administration's illegal actions. But instead, politics intervened. For nakedly political reasons, the Supreme Court willfully ignored the words that Congress wrote, and instead read into the law their preferred policy outcome. These Justices have joined with President Obama in harming millions of Americans. Unelected judges have once again become legislators--and bad ones at that. They are lawless, and they hide their prevarication in legalese. Our government was designed to be one of laws, not of men, and this transparent distortion is disgraceful.

These Justices are not behaving as umpires calling balls and strikes. They have joined a team, and it is a team that is hurting Americans across this country. ObamaCare is the biggest job killer in America. Millions of Americans have lost their jobs, have been forced into part-time work, have lost their health insurance, have lost their doctors. Millions of Americans have seen their health insurance premiums skyrocket, and it is a direct result of President Obama, of Democrats in the Congress, and of lawless Justices at the U.S. Supreme Court who have joined the team of the Obama administration. If those Justices want to become legislators, I invite them to resign and run for office. That is the appropriate place to write laws--on this floor, not from that courtroom.

I began my career as a law clerk of the U.S. Supreme Court, clerking for Chief Justice William Rehnquist, one of the greatest Chief Justices ever to serve our Nation. I have spent the majority of my adult life litigating before the U.S. Supreme Court, both on behalf of the State of Texas and on behalf of private parties. What this Court has become is heartbreaking. If Chief Justice Rehnquist could see this Court today, he would be filled with sorrow at what has become of the Supreme Court of the United States.

The obligation of fidelity to the Constitution and fidelity to law matters. We are not living in a platonic oligarchy with philosopher kings governing us who believe they get to write the laws, interpret the laws, and enforce the laws. That is not the American system of governance.

At the same time, crocodile tears are flowing here in our Nation's Capital over the Supreme Court's decision to illegally rewrite ObamaCare, which has been a disaster since its inception. But one day of faux outrage from the Washington cartel won't fool the millions of courageous conservatives all across our country. They know that far too many career politicians--Democrats and Republicans--in this Nation's Capital are quietly celebrating the Court's decision. If they believe this issue is now settled so they don't have to address it, they are sorely mistaken.

I have made repeal of this disastrous law a top priority since the very first day I entered into this body, and I have made its repeal central to my tenure in office. Republicans all across the country, including my friend the Presiding Officer, campaigned on repealing this law and were elected in a historic tidal wave year--historic majorities in both Chambers of this Congress and in statehouses all across the country. It is now up to us to keep our promises.

I believe 2016 will be a national referendum on repealing ObamaCare. This law is profoundly unpopular. It is unpopular with Republicans, it is unpopular with Independents, it is unpopular with Democrats, it is unpopular with young people, it is unpopular with Hispanics, and it is unpopular with everybody it has hurt, and there are millions being hurt by this law.

The Court adopted and put its stamp of approval on the IRS's blatantly unlawful reading of the statute to make subsidies and taxes applicable to individuals on Federal exchanges when Congress explicitly provided the opposite. Jonathan Gruber famously said Obamacare was built on exploiting the stupidity of the American people. Well, unfortunately the Supreme Court is now complicit in that deception. The Supreme Court has joined President Obama, whose statement ``if you like your health insurance plan, you can keep your health insurance plan'' was rightfully noted as the lie of the year as millions of Americans lost their doctors. Now those rogue Justices are complicit in that lie, in setting aside their oath of office to lie to the American people.

After today's ruling, ObamaCare will now be responsible for imposing illegal taxes on more than 11 million individuals and for burdening hundreds of thousands of businesses with illegal penalties on their workers, killing jobs and further slowing economic growth.

You are a young person right now. You come out of school. You have student loans up to your eyeballs. You are struggling. You don't know if you are going to get a job. The dismal Obama economy means your future is bleak. You have no hope or optimism of actually getting a career, getting skills, moving towards the American dream. Well, today the U.S. Supreme Court has joined arm in arm with President Obama and the IRS in illegally imposing taxes on you--you, that young person starting your career, struggling to make your student loan payments.

Working as a part-time employee making coffee doesn't pay those payments, and yet you are stuck with the individual mandate, which is a tax, so says the Supreme Court and so the Obama Justice Department argued. Right after President Obama told the American people it wasn't a tax, the Obama Justice Department said yes, it is a tax. The Supreme Court agreed. You, the single person, the single mom trying to feed your kids, are paying an illegal tax because of the lies emanating from Washington, DC.

You, the teenage immigrant, as my father was 58 years ago, washing dishes, making 50 cents an hour--he couldn't speak English, but he was filled with hopes and dreams. He was filled with an aspiration for the American dream. Ours is the greatest Nation in the history of the world because people can start with nothing and achieve anything. That is the promise of America.

ObamaCare is strangling that promise. You, the teen, are paying illegal taxes right now today because of President Obama's deception, because of the IRS's lawlessness, and because of the Supreme Court's judicial activism, violating their oaths of office.

I remain fully committed to repealing every single word of ObamaCare. Mark my words. Following the election in 2016, the referendum that we will have, in 2017, this Chamber will return and we will repeal every word of ObamaCare. We will bring back economic growth, we will bring back opportunity, and then we will pass commonsense health reform that makes health insurance personal, portable, and affordable and that keeps government from getting between us and our doctors.

We will recognize that this horrible experiment has failed. When millions of Americans lose their jobs, are forced into part-time jobs, lose their health care, lose their doctors, when millions of Americans see their premiums skyrocket, it is incumbent on Members of this body, it is incumbent on the Federal Government to fix the wreckage they caused, to fix the wreckage the Supreme Court has now embraced lawlessly.

We will repeal ObamaCare, and I will fight with every breath in my body to make sure that happens in 2017.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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