Sen Cruz: Americans Want Economic Growth Back; We Must Stand Together to Defund Obamacare
WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) today joined Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) in a colloquy on the Senate floor to explain the importance of defunding Obamacare in the Continuing Resolution. Video and excerpts of the Senator’s remarks are below.
It is important to understand who it is hurt the most by Obamacare. It is not the C.E.O.'s, not the wealthy. It is young people, Hispanics, African-Americans, single moms. According to the most recent census data in 2011 the poverty rate for those who worked full time was 2.8%. The poverty rate for those working less than full time year round was 16.3%.
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Mr. President, if young people at home are watching this today and wondering about how are they going to get a job, how are they going to climb the economic ladder? How are they going to achieve the American dream? Obamacare is driving up their health care premiums right now. And we all know that the President promised the American people at the time Obamacare was being debated if you like your health care plan, you can keep it. The facts have conclusively proven that wrong. According to a February 2013 report by the Congressional Budget Office, seven million people will lose their employer-sponsored insurance.
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I believe the American people should hold their elected officials accountable and that most assuredly includes me. It includes all of us. We should be held accountable by our constituents.
And the American people know this bill isn't working. There's bipartisan agreement on it. And we have a potential in the next 62 days to show real leadership. Not to give a speech. Not to give a meaningless symbolic vote. But to stand together to actually defund it.
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Let me be clear what I think should happen. I believe the House of Representatives should pass a continuing resolution, should fund the entirety of the federal government except for Obamacare, and should explicitly prohibit further funding of Obamacare, should adopt the legislation that I've introduced as a condition to the continuing resolution…
We then take the argument to the American people. That it is the American people that should decide if there are members of this body who are willing to shut down the American government in order to force Obamacare down the throats of the American people, in order to say President Obama will grant a waiver to giant corporations but not to hardworking American families.
Let's take that argument to the American people because I think the American people want economic growth back. That should be our top priority. Nothing is killing jobs more. Nothing is hurting the American economy more than Obamacare.
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