FAIRFAX, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement urging Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) to support the Graham-Cassidy legislation replacing Obamacare:
“Sens. Ted Cruz and Rand Paul have spent the better part of six years seeking Obamacare repeal. Both are largely identified with ending Obama’s signature health care law, including the individual mandate which punishes those who do not buy insurance, the employer mandate which discourages small businesses from expanding and providing states additional freedom against the federalization of health insurance.
“The Graham-Cassidy compromise repeals the individual mandate, protecting 6.5 million Americans from $3 billion in a year in tax penalties, while liberating those who involuntarily purchased health insurance to finally exercise a real choice. The employer mandate destroyed 250,000 jobs and is estimated by the CBO that millions of additional employees will get full-time opportunities through its repeal, which Graham-Cassidy achieves. Lastly and perhaps most importantly, unlike the ‘skinny’ repeal, Graham-Cassidy provides states with relief from some of Obamacare’s most egregious regulations and opens the door for true state-based market reforms through waivers. If these provisions can be strengthened, then Senate leadership should do so.
“Both Sens. Cruz and Paul wisely supported the so-called ‘skinny’ repeal, which was defeated due to Susan Collins, and most notably, John McCain and Lisa Murkowski who changed their positions on Obamacare repeal after campaigning on it. Murkowski, McCain and Collins’ actions made liars out of every Republican in Washington, D.C. and Graham-Cassidy is the last, best chance to set it right this year.
“Graham-Cassidy is not perfect as it leaves much of the Obamacare architecture in place. Unfortunately, it has already been shown that there are not the votes in the Senate for passage of full repeal. Assuming Murkowski comes to her senses and reads her own campaign brochures, Cruz and Paul need to understand that in order to rid the nation of the scourge of the individual and employer mandates, that some parts of Obamacare will unfortunately be left in place temporarily. The clock is ticking with a Sept. 30 deadline looming to get this done, and it’s time to get to yes. Another Obamacare repeal failure is not an option.”
