Representative Bill Cassidy (R-La.), a practicing physician, gave the Republican's weekly address this morning, and no surprise since the country is waiting for the Supreme Court to rule on the constitutionality of the law next week, the focus was Obamacare.
Video below and beneath that is the transcript.
[WATCH]
Transcript: (Via The Hayride)
“Hello, I’m Bill Cassidy, a doctor and United States Congressman from the State of Louisiana.
“As you know, the U.S. Supreme Court will soon rule on the constitutionality of the president’s health care law, a law which continues to hurt job creation and damage our economy. Not only is President Obama’s health care law not working – it makes things worse by driving up health care costs, making it harder for small businesses to hire workers. The only way to change this is by repealing ObamaCare entirely.
“So, unless the Court throws out the entire law, we should repeal what is left and implement common-sense, step-by-step reforms that protect Americans’ access to the care they need, from the doctor they choose, at the lowest cost.
“In this tough economy, the top health care concern of families and small businesses is out-of-control costs. Health care coverage has become too expensive for too many people. Two years ago, Washington Democrats pushed through ObamaCare and its 2,700 pages with promises that it would fix all this. It did not have popular support. It did not have bipartisan support. But its authors insisted that ObamaCare would make health care more affordable, and of course Americans hoped that would be true.
“Instead, ObamaCare has turned out to be the wrong medicine for out-of-control health care costs. The law, as an example, is going to cost nearly twice as much as we were told, people are already paying more for their health care than they were before, and because of health insurance expenses, employers are canceling plans to expand their businesses, which is to say they will not be hiring new workers. With costs going up and too much uncertainty, this two trillion dollar takeover will result in more people being pushed out of the plan they enjoy today.
“The Obama administration has tried all kinds of run-of-the-mill Washington tactics to distract from ObamaCare’s failures – issuing hundreds of waivers to selected businesses and unions and spending millions of taxpayer dollars on public relations campaigns.
“None of this has worked, and now the vast majority of Americans want the Supreme Court to overturn all or part of ObamaCare. If that happens, it’s important to know that Republicans will not repeat Democrats’ mistakes. We will not rush through a massive bill the American people don’t support or won’t even have time to read to figure out whether they do support it. And we won’t take our focus off jobs and the economy.
“I have practiced medicine for nearly three decades primarily treating the uninsured … I still see patients almost weekly. Good health care starts in a doctor’s office, not a Washington backroom. It’s now clear, if it wasn’t already, that containing costs step-by-step – not expanding government in one fell swoop – is the right approach to health care reform. Families should be able to make their own health care choices, visit the doctor of their choosing, and receive the health care they and their physician feel is best. That means implementing patient-centered solutions that lower costs and restore Americans’ freedoms over their health care decisions.
“Again, Republicans continue, as promised, to focus on helping small businesses create jobs. The most recent jobs report pegged unemployment at 8.2 percent – much higher than what White House officials said it would be by now with the ‘stimulus’ in effect. ObamaCare, with its fees, tax hikes, and costly mandates, makes this worse. We should seize this opportunity to protect jobs and work together on a step-by-step reform that does what ObamaCare did not do, which is to lower the cost of health care for families and small businesses. This is what Republicans hope to achieve, and we hope to have your support.
“Thank you for listening, and God bless the United States of America.”
There are three possible rulings that can come from the Supreme Court next week. 1) They uphold the entire law. 2) They will strike down the individual mandate, the heart of the law, and leave the rest. 3) The will strike down entire law because Democrats in Congress deliberately removed the severability clause from the final version that was signed by Barack Obama.
If the entire law is struck down, Republicans must learn the lesson of Obamacare and keep the promise made above about taking a step-by-step approach.
No more 2000+ page bills that members of Congress admit they didn't even read through before signing.
No more mammoth bills that people like Nancy Pelosi say "we have to pass the bill so you can find out what is in it."
No more health care laws that the majority of Americans are against while Democrats insist Americans will learn to love it.
Small bills, incremental steps, each dealing with specific issues and without 21 hidden tax increases for American families.