Defunding Obamacare in the Senate

Fellow Americans (I'll post something for foreign readers next, I promise), what exactly do you hate most about Obamacare? The fascist power grab of it? The power it gives to insurance corporations to keep raising the cost of medical care at will until everyone else is bankrupt and/or dead? The way it takes away benefits on which people who really are disabled and poverty-stricken have been depending for years, perhaps all their lives? The improbability that, if Obamacare goes into effect, we'll ever get a sensible system set up for meeting the actual costs of the medical care people really need and can't pay for themselves?

Personally I find it hard to pick just one, but if any Democrats are reading this post, I'd like to ask youall to focus on the last one. This web site is not asking Congress to stop paying for Grandma's diabetic supplies or Junior's physical therapy. We never have asked that. We never will. We don't want that; we want the diabetic supplies and the physical therapy and suchlike to remain available to poor people. We suspect that a sensible plan, like the one that's worked for the Veterans Administration, could be funded without raising existing tax rates by a penny, but we would rather pay higher taxes to support a sensible plan than pay penny one into any insurance gambling racket.

So we're delighted to report that the House of Representatives has voted to defund and thus block Obamacare. Legislation to this effect was not expected to succeed, but it's moving into the Senate, and the Tea Party Patriots group want to make sure you know which U.S. Senators to thank and which ones to lean on...Republican Senators, that is. They've written off the Democrats (I don't; see below). Here is their summary of the Republican Senators and their positions:

"Obamacare is coming apart at the seams and our final chance to stop it is fast approaching. Starting in 2014, major parts of the law will be implemented that will be difficult to undo.

Recently, Senator Mike Lee from Utah issued a letter (text below) urging Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to defund Obamacare in light of the President's decision to lift the employer mandate burden for big businesses while keeping it in place for individuals like you and me.

The following is a list of the Republicans in the Senate. Fifteen of them have signed on to Senator Lee's Letter. The rest of them have not. Yet all of them have either voted against Obamacare or have publicly opposed the law. We are asking you to call the Republicans in the Senate today. Thank those who have signed on to Senator Lee's letter for their bold stance against Obamacare. To those who have not signed on to Senator Lee's letter, we need to encourage them to do so and ask them why they have not done so yet. The bottom line is, voting to fund Obamacare is voting to own it.

This is our last chance to stop this train wreck from wreaking havoc on our economy and our health care system. Please call them today!

Have Signed on to Senator Lee's Letter: (Thank these Senators)

Marco Rubio, FL: (202) 224-3041

Chuck Grassley, IA: (202) 224-3744

James Risch, ID: (202) 224-2752

Mark Kirk, IL: (202) 224-2854

Rand Paul, KY: (202) 224-4343

David Vitter, LA: (202) 224-4623

Roger Wicker, MS: (202) 224-6253

Deb Fischer, NE: (202) 224-6551

Jeff Chiesa, NJ: (202) 224-3224

Jim Inhofe, OK: (202) 224-4721

John Thune, SD: (202) 224-2321

John Cornyn, TX: (202) 224-2934

Ted Cruz, TX: (202) 224-5922

Mike Lee, UT: (202) 224-5444

Mike Enzi, WY: (202) 224-3424

Have Not Signed on to Senator Lee's Letter: (Encourage these Senators)

Lisa Murkowski, AK: (202) 224-6665

Jeff Sessions, AL: (202) 224-4124

Richard Shelby, AL: (202) 224-5744

John Boozman, AR: (202) 224-4843

Jeff Flake, AZ: (202) 224-4521

John McCain, AZ: (202) 224-2235

Saxby Chambliss, GA: (202) 224-3521

Johnny Isakson, GA: (202) 224-3643

Mike Crapo, ID: (202) 224-6142

Dan Coats, IN: (202) 224-5623

Jerry Moran, KS: (202) 224-6521

Pat Roberts, KS: (202) 224-4774

Mitch McConnell, KY: (202) 224-2541

Susan Collins, ME: (202) 224-2523

Roy Blunt, MO: (202) 224-5721

Thad Cochran, MS: (202) 224-5054

Richard Burr, NC: (202) 224-3154

John Hoeven, ND: (202) 224-2551

Mike Johanns, NE: (202) 224-4224

Kelly Ayotte, NH: (202) 224-3324

Dean Heller, NV: (202) 224-6244

Rob Portman, OH: (202) 224-3353

Tom Coburn, OK: (202) 224-5754

Pat Toomey, PA: (202) 224-4254

Lindsey Graham, SC: (202) 224-5972

Tim Scott, SC: (202) 224-6121

Lamar Alexander, TN: (202) 224-4944

Bob Corker, TN: (202) 224-3344

Orrin Hatch, UT: (202) 224-5251

Ron Johnson, WI: (202) 224-5323

John Barrasso, WY: (202) 224-6441

 

We may not always agree with our elected officials, but it is important to thank them when they do the right thing. Likewise, it is important for us to encourage those who need help doing the right thing.

In Liberty,
Tea Party Patriots Support Team

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Text of Senator Lee's Letter:
Dear Leader Reid:

We view the Obama Administration’s recent decision to delay Obamacare's employer mandate and eligibility verification for the individual exchanges as further proof the law is a failure that will inevitably hurt businesses, American families, and the economy.

In light of this admission, we believe the only way to avert disaster is to fully repeal Obamacare and start over with a more sensible, practical approach to reforming our healthcare system.

However, if Democrats will not agree with Republicans that Obamacare must be repealed, perhaps they can at least agree with the president that the law cannot be implemented as written.  If the administration will not enforce the law as written, then the American people should not be forced to fund it.

This is a matter not only of fiscal prudence, but of fundamental fairness as well. The president cannot seriously expect to waive Obamacare’s onerous mandates on large businesses, while simultaneously forcing individuals and families to pay to implement an individual mandate the public has opposed since before the law was even passed.

For these reasons, we will not support any continuing resolution or appropriations legislation that funds further implementation or enforcement of Obamacare.

Sincerely,
Sens. Lee, Rubio, Cruz, Cornyn, Risch, Paul, Inhofe, Vitter, Wicker, Kirk, Thune, Chiesa, Enzi, Fischer, and Grassley."

Personally, I'm not so sure that we need to write off the Democrats either. The word "Democrat" does not inherently mean either "lacking intelligence" or "lacking good will"; we had good Democrats in Congress who opposed Obamacare, if only on the grounds that nobody had actually read the full text of the proposal. Democrats do, by definition, support the general idea of a national plan to subsidize medical care for poor people; they've supported that at least since the Kennedy Administration, but they're not necessarily stupid enough to think that forcing everybody to support increasingly expensive gambling rip-offs is the way to implement the plan they want. If you are a Democrat or are on speaking terms with Democrats in the Senate, your role in derailing the "train wreck" of Obamacare and building a workable alternative plan will be vital. Liberal Republicans like Senators McCain and Graham, and conservative Democrats like Senator Mark Warner, have a wonderful opportunity here to take charge of constructing a bipartisan health care plan that can actually work. And this web site says the sooner the better.

Btw...does anyone out there want to thank the Tea Party Patriots for compiling this list? Write, call, or click:

Tea Party Patriots
1025 Rose Creek Drive
Ste 620-322
Woodstock, GA  30189
Support: 404-593-0877
http://www.tppsupport.org