Newsletter: Obamacare

Statement

Friends,

Congress just wrapped up its first week back in session, but we all know that the big news in town is the Panthers' run to the Super Bowl ended much too soon. When I ran for Congress, I promised I would never shy away from going toe-to-toe with Washington Democrats and I'm certainly not about to stop now. Last week, Nancy Pelosi got a little ahead of herself and talked like it was a guarantee her Niners were going to the Super Bowl so I said enough is enough - I put our Panthers up against the Niners. Unfortunately, the Panthers lost a tough game. But at least we have an excuse to share with our West Coast colleagues some of the best our state has to offer: Bojangles' chicken, Lance crackers, and Cheerwine.

Unfortunately, the outcome of this bet didn't change the fact that many of her party's policies remain in place, which is why we must commit ourselves to working even harder this year to fully repealing Obamacare and rolling back their liberal agenda.

Obamacare continues to be an absolute disaster. We have seen the devastating effects all over the country, but especially at home in North Carolina where the amount of people receiving cancellation notices outnumbers jobs that are being created. I go home every weekend and travel the district to talk to businesses who say that they are sitting on capital, and are scared to expand and hire people because they don't know what the costs of health care are going to be. The uncertainty that this awful law creates is throwing a wet blanket on job creation at a time when we desperately need it. The December jobs report released this week confirmed that over 91 million people are out of work and that the labor force participation rate is the lowest since 1978.

The bottom line is that Obamacare is also destroying our health care system. Premiums are skyrocketing, squeezing more of people's take-home pay and making it harder for them to make ends meet. Folks write and call my office every day telling me they can barely put food on the table because their premiums are increasing and destroying their budget. Some people are working two and three jobs just to pay for health care, while others simply cannot afford it because all they can find are part-time jobs. After what Politifact deemed the "Lie of the Year," but might actually be in the running for the "Lie of the Century," thousands of people are tragically receiving cancellation notices, leaving them in impossibly difficult situations.

These are just a few reasons why I am so committed to repealing this law in its entirety and replacing it with real, patient-centered reforms that expand access to quality health care while actually lowering costs. We must get rid of this disastrous law because at the end of the day this is all about people. This country can and must do better. What is happening to folks in North Carolina and across the country is not only an economic catastrophe, but a human tragedy. We have a moral responsibility to get people back to work so that they can pursue their dreams and aspirations and care for themselves and their families.

In the meantime, however, I will take every opportunity I have to protect my constituents as much as I can from the threat this law poses and restore some basic fairness. This week, the House passed a bill that enhances the data security on the federal exchange website and provides greater accountability for the federal government. Right now, millions of Americans are at risk and there is no accountability in the event of a data breach. So what this bill does is demand greater security measures to protect your information and put that accountability in place so that if people's personal information is lost, those folks have to be notified. The federal government thinks that businesses should live by that standard. The federal government says that states who set up their own exchanges have to live by that standard. Well I say, the federal government must also live by that standard. It's really that simple.

I see no reason why the Senate should not pass this bill and the President sign it immediately. It's what is right and fair for the American people.

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