FAIRFAX, VA—Americans for Limited Government senior editor Robert Romano today issued the following statement support of the principles set out by Sens. Mike Lee (R-Utah), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas), defining that H.R. 3762, which President Barack Obama vetoed in 2016, should be the bare minimum of what the Republican majorities of the House and Senate consider in 2017 to put on President-elect Donald Trump’s desk when he assumes office later this month:
“If anybody has credibility on repealing the health care law, it is Sen. Ted Cruz who filibustered funding for it in 2013, and Sens. Marco Rubio and Mike Lee, who joined him on the floor in support. H.R. 3762 passed the House and Senate in 2015, and was vetoed by President Obama in 2016. Both chambers then failed to override the veto, but now there is a real opportunity to have that very same piece of legislation signed into law by President-elect Donald Trump when he assumes office later this month.
“That bill got rid of Medicaid expansion, premium subsidies, cost-sharing subsidies, the individual and employer mandates, reinsurance, risk corridors and risk-adjustment, and the many taxes and spending from the health care law. If that is the bill that is put on Trump’s desk, it would be a monumental achievement. If it was good enough in 2016 for Obama to veto, it should be good enough to put on Trump’s desk to sign. And if it is good enough for Lee, Rubio and Cruz, then it is good enough for Americans for Limited Government. Republicans would be foolish not to get everything they could under budget reconciliation.
“If states want to do Medicaid expansion for those with incomes in the middle of the spectrum, the so-called doughnut hole, that’s their business. Federal taxpayers should not be compelled to subsidize it. The bottom line is this is an historic chance to keep a six-year-old Republican promise to repeal the guts of Obamacare and Republicans should not blink at this rare opportunity the American people have given to them to limit the size and scope of the government. They should do no less than what they forced Obama to veto in 2016 and hopefully with the new majorities and the White House, they’ll do even more going forward, including allowing insurance to be sold across state lines.”
