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Scalise: "Obamacare has failed the American people"

January 13, 2017

WASHINGTON, DC—Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) made the following remarks today regarding House passage of S. Con. Res. 3, the FY2017 Budget. Passage of this bill represents an important step in repealing Obamacare.

Transcript:

"Obamacare has failed the American people. If you go back to the beginning, it was created with a series of lies to the American people. We all remember, 'If you like what you have, you can keep it.' How’s that worked out for millions of Americans who lost the plans that they liked and now cannot keep? What about the promise that premiums would go down by $2,500? President Obama made that claim.

"Today in states all across the nation you’re seeing premiums go up an average of 25%. That’s on top of double-digit increases every single year Obamacare has been in effect. This law is not working. It’s failing families, it’s costing jobs across our economy. It’s time to repeal this law and actually replace it with reforms that put patients back in charge of their medical decisions with their doctors. What a great concept that would be. It’s about time we focus on lowering the cost of healthcare and giving people real choices.

"In so many markets across the country—and it’s a growing number—families have only one choice for health care now, because Obamacare has forced so many people out of the marketplace. Which means you as a family don’t have any choices. Because one choice means a monopoly. And you wonder why the costs are skyrocketing.

"This should not be about preserving somebody’s legacy. It should be about fulfilling those promises to the American people that were broken. And we’re here to fulfill that promise. How refreshing it is that you have people that ran for years saying, 'we’re going to repeal Obamacare,' with a president who is ready to sign the bill to repeal Obamacare—and today, just in the second week of this new Congress, we’re taking the first step to fulfill that promise to the American people, to put their healthcare back in their hands with costs that they can afford and real choices that work for all Americans."