Reps. Graves, Fleischmann, DesJarlais Vote To Repeal Obamacare

  • Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Rep. Tom Graves voted in favor of H.R. 6079, the Repeal of Obamacare Act.  The bill would fully repeal the President’s health care law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which is commonly known as Obamacare.  Rep. Graves is also a co-sponsor of the repeal legislation. 

“The House took a positive and essential step today towards getting rid of Obamacare," said Rep. Graves.  "Besides trampling on the Constitution and personal responsibility, the law is ungainly, intrusive into the families of America, and a drag on the American economy.  It raises taxes, increases health care costs, and destroys jobs.  At a time when the Congressional Budget Office is telling Americans the national debt will approach $20 trillion by the end of the decade, we simply can’t afford to pay for the President’s health care experiment. It's now time for the Senate to take up this bill so the American people can know where their Senators stand on Obamacare.

“Once we’ve woken up from the Obamacare nightmare, Republicans are committed to a thoughtful, common-sense approach to reforming the health care system in America.  Any new reforms must let families make their own health choices, visit the doctors they want, and receive the care they and their doctor feel is best.  It’s time for a patient-centered, patient-driven, free market-focused solution for health care.”

Wednesday’s vote was the 33rd time the Republican-led House has voted to dismantle part or all of Obamacare.  The first bill Rep. Graves introduced when he became a member of Congress, H.R. 127, would defund Obamacare.

Congressman Fleischmann made the following remarks after voting to repeal Obamacare.

“Since the day I was elected I have been fighting to repeal Obamacare, and I will continue to vote until Obamacare is no more.  This continues a promise I made to Tennesseans when I first ran for Congress.  Today’s vote demonstrates the Republican commitment to repeal and that, if we have the necessary majorities, Obamacare will be repealed,” Rep. Fleischmann said. 

"The simple fact is that Obamacare is a job killer.  Thanks to the employer mandate, businesses are required to provide government approved insurance once they hit a certain threshold.  So if a small business has 48 employees and needs to start providing government approved insurance at 50 employees, why would they expand their business?  This is in addition to all of the job killing taxes sprinkled throughout the bill.  When our nation needs jobs desperately, Obamacare penalizes workers and job creators.”

Rep. Fleischmann has been a consistent advocate of repealing Obamacare throughout his time in Congress, and has been critical of many of the bill’s provisions.  One of Rep. Fleischmann’s earliest votes was a full repeal of Obamacare in January of 2011.  He has cosponsored and voted to repeal the 1099 provision of Obamacare, cosponsored and voted for a bill to repeal the Independent Patient Advisory Board, and cosponsored and voted for legislation that repeals the Medical Device tax.

Rep. Scott DesJarlais, M.D. released the following statement Wednesday after voting to repeal President Obama’s health care law: 

“Obamacare is bad for jobs, bad for our economy and most importantly it is bad for patients. 

“This legislation was hastily written behind closed doors and passed against the will of the American people. The result is an unworkable mess that is full of tax increases on the middle class and burdensome regulations that will put Washington bureaucrats between patients and their doctors.

“Since arriving to congress I’ve been proud to vote 32 times to repeal or defund this failed law and replace it with real, common sense solutions that will drive down costs and expand access to care.

“The Supreme Court’s ruling confirmed what the American people already knew: ObamaCare’s individual mandate is a tremendous tax increase on all Americans and clearly violates Democrat’s promise to not raise taxes on the middle class,” said Rep. DesJarlais. 

Brandon Lewis, campaign manager for Congressman DesJarlais added, “Eric Stewart may think that hundreds of billions of dollars in new taxes and more regulations and burdens on the backs of small business during a recession is a ‘great thing’, but Tennesseans know that is the wrong prescription. Dr. DesJarlais has spent his professional life in healthcare and understands Stewart’s short-sighted vision turns the doctor’s office into the DMV.” 

Mr. Stewart recently made his stance official on Obamacare in the Chattanooga Times Free Press by stating, "Given all those great things that are in it, no, I wouldn't vote to repeal it."


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