Hensarling on CNN's Starting Point
There's bipartisan support for repeal, there’s only partisan support to save.”
House Republican Conference Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) appeared this morning on CNN’s Starting Point to discuss the upcoming vote to repeal Obamacare to create jobs and improve the American economy.
Hensarling on voting to fully repeal Obamacare for a second time:
“Number one, this happens to be the seminal issue of our time. People who have worked for government-controlled health care worked on it for 20 years. Those of us who want patient-centered health care have had two years to repeal it. I think it's kind of unreasonable to think we're going to go away. Second of all, I believe it's the will of the American people. I certainly know in the Fifth Congressional District of Texas, the district I represent, it's the will of those people. … The third point I would make is after the Supreme Court ruling, this is a different law. It is now the law of the land that the individual mandate is a tax. Many people who voted for Obamacare in the first place said they would never raise taxes on those who made below $200,000. Well, according to the Supreme Court, that's what the law does. Second of all, the Supreme Court found the forced Medicaid expansions to the states unconstitutional. That fundamentally changes the law and drives up the cost for the federal taxpayer. So, this is a fundamentally different law. And then last but not least, we had yet again a terrible, dismal jobs report for the last month — 41 straight months of 8 percent-plus unemployment, the worst since the Great Depression. You ask any businessperson, ‘What's the main impediment to creating jobs?’ They say government red tape, and at the top of the list is the president's health care plan. So there’s every single reason to re-vote this thing today.”
Hensarling on Obamacare’s impact on jobs and the economy:
“Health care is all about jobs and the economy. Again, you talk to any small businessperson who has 47, 48 employees, like the guy who runs my favorite restaurant in Terrell, Texas. He says he’s never going to go beyond 50 employees because of the president's health care law. The medical device tax — I have a tool and die manufacturer in Jacksonville, Texas, who serves the medical device industry. He says if the medical device tax doesn't go away, he's probably going to have to lay off a quarter to a third of his workforce. The employer mandate … I’ve got other people saying they’re going to actively go out of business.”
Hensarling on the growing support for repealing Obamacare:
“I try to do what's right. I try to listen to my constituents. I don't worship at the altar of public opinion polls, but I’ve got to tell you, the vast majority of public opinion polls I've seen shows that a majority of Americans want this law repealed and, frankly, the longer it's out there, the numbers grow to repeal it. And frankly we pick up Democrat votes to repeal. There's bipartisan support for repeal, there’s only partisan support to save.”
Hensarling on House Republican efforts to repeal Obamacare and create jobs:
“Look at welfare reform, I look at civil rights — a lot of these great laws in America had to be voted on many, many times and you build the vote each time you vote on it. But again … this Obamacare – with its $800 billion in new taxes, $1.7 trillion cost which soon is to increase – is one of the great inhibitors of job growth. It is job number one of the House Republican Conference to work on jobs and, frankly, there's a lot of reasons to repeal Obamacare, but creating jobs and improving the economy is a significant one, and that’s why we need to re-vote it today.”
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For additional information, contact:
House Republican Conference Press Office (conferencepress@mail.house.gov)
