Senator Hutchison Joins Republican Senators, Attorneys General at Press Conference on Supreme Court Health Law Hearing

Press Conference

Today, U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) joined Republican Senators and Attorneys General at a press conference immediately following the Supreme Court's consideration of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act's individual mandate. Below is a transcript of Senator Hutchison's remarks:

Thank you. I think that we've seen these early arguments, yesterday especially, in which they're arguing whether it is a tax or a mandate --and I thought Justice Roberts certainly said, `Well, of course, we all know if it's a tax, that gives Congress the capability to do it.' But he basically said that if it looks like a duck, and it walks like a duck, and it quacks like a duck, it's a duck - which means it's a mandate. It is an unconstitutional mandate that will make this whole law unconstitutional. And I think that what it's doing is telling every business in America that they have to subscribe to a government-run health care plan. It is a mandate that is unsustainable in the Constitution. I think the Justices are beginning to get enough information and we hope they will come to the right decision. There is no question that two-thirds of the American people believe that this is an encroachment on their freedom and I hope that we can change it someday by law. I hope that we can start all over and have a good health plan giving more access to Americans to insurance that they can afford, and that they want.

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