Hatch and Shurtleff Call for Full Repeal of Obamacare

Statement

Sen. Orrin Hatch, Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff and Salt Lake City businessman Mark Lewon today called for the full repeal of Obamacare, saying the $2.6 trillion health law spends, borrows and taxes too much.

Speaking at Lewon's Utah Metal Works in Salt Lake City, Hatch (R-Utah) said Obamacare is beyond repair and must be replaced "with real solutions that put Utahns and the states back in charge."

Hatch's prepared remarks at the press conference follow:

One year ago this week, Obamacare became law. Utahns, and Americans all over the country, made it clear from the start of this debate that they despised Obamacare. It spends too much, borrows too much, and taxes too much. All the spinning in the world would never convince them that $2.6 trillion in new spending was going to save money.

But Democrats did not care. With historic majorities in Congress, they pushed Obamacare through the Senate with no Republican support. Nothing could slow them down. Not the Virginia and New Jersey gubernatorial elections. Not the Tea Party town halls. Not the election of Scott Brown in Massachusetts. The media likes to talk a lot about so-called moderate Democrats. Let me tell you, that when the going gets tough they don't exist. Egged on by the President, every single Democrat in the Senate voted for this unconstitutional travesty, over the objection of their constituents and every single Republican in the Senate.

Obamacare's numbers never added up. Democrats were desperate to show that a $2.6 trillion spending bill would save money and help the economy. Well, the numbers are in --this is what Obamacare has given us: $2,100 in higher premiums; 800,000 fewer jobs; $118 billion in new unfunded state mandates; $311 billion in higher health care costs; $529 billion in Medicare cuts to fund new entitlement spending; $813 billion in new taxes. It is hard to conceive of a more economically destructive bill at a time of great economic peril.

Instead of focusing on job creation and fixing the economy, Obama and his liberal allies took on health care reform because they saw an opportunity to regulate one-sixth of the American economy. The problem is that the bureaucrats who would now micromanage the economy have little understanding of how businesses and markets work. Let me give you two examples of the harm this bill does to American businesses and workers.

First, as part of the mad dash to raise money for this massive new government spending, Obamacare requires all companies to issue a 1099 form to any individual or corporation from which they buy more than $600 in goods or services. This provision is nothing but a paperwork generator that is a huge burden on American businesses.

At the same time, those businesses are now going to have Washington regulators micromanaging the health coverage they provide for their employees. Washington will dictate what type of coverage they can buy for their employees and will penalize them if they don't provide government-approved insurance. This is a recipe for increased costs and inefficiencies.

Obamacare is not just bad. It is unconstitutional. If the federal government can force you to buy health insurance, it can force you to do anything. Read the government's briefs in the cases challenging Obamacare. For this Administration the only limit on the power of Washington is the limit on the imagination of the most liberal member of Congress. Obamacare is a direct assault on the Founders' Constitution of limited government and states' rights, and I am proud that Attorney General Shurtleff is leading the fight for Utahns in challenging this unconstitutional law.

There is no fixing Obamacare. The whole law must go. It might not happen today, and it might not happen tomorrow, but it will be repealed. And when it is I will work to replace it with real solutions that put Utahns and the states back in charge.

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