{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://web.archive.org/web/20140301172327/http://bridenstine.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/congressman-jim-bridenstine-votes-against-hr-3350-keep-your-health-plan", "Congressman Jim Bridenstine Votes Against HR 3350 \u201cKeep Your Health Plan Act\u201d", "2013-11-15", "2013", "2013-11", "Republican", "House", "OK", "Jim Bridenstine", "B001283", "web.archive.org", null, null, "legacy", "Today the House considered a bill titled the \u201cKeep Your Health Plan Act\u201d.\u00a0 I voted against it.\u00a0 While this is a well-intentioned messaging bill, this law would place the President\u2019s lie on the shoulders of Congress.\u00a0 Since insurance companies cannot alter course on a dime, Congress cannot keep this promise any more than the President.\u00a0\nPassing HR 3350 does not make the Affordable Care Act constitutional.\u00a0 The federal government is compelling individual citizens to buy a product they would not otherwise buy, and that is unconstitutional.\u00a0 Simply grandfathering plans that were previously available does not make the coercion constitutional.\nObamacare cannot be fixed and Congress should not be passing laws to try to keep it alive and punish millions of Americans.\u00a0 Now is the time for Congress to make a binary decision:\u00a0 Are you for Obamacare or against it?\nObamacare is punishing millions of Americans.\u00a0 The employer mandate caused layoffs, thwarted job creation, pushed people into part-time work, and forced companies to drop employees from health insurance.\u00a0 Seeing this in June, the President delayed the employer mandate by decree.\nSince 2010, the individual insurance market has been attempting to create plans that adhere to Obamacare\u2019s essential health benefits (EHB) requirements.\u00a0 As predicted, these requirements are very costly and the costs are now being passed to the consumer.\u00a0 Premiums are skyrocketing for new plans and individuals are being dropped from their previous plans.\u00a0 Americans are being forced by the federal government to purchase benefits they don\u2019t need, don\u2019t want, and cannot afford.\u00a0 Seeing this, yesterday the President delayed EHB requirements by decree.\u00a0\nThe insurance companies have said the reversal is unworkable.\u00a0 They have spent years preparing for Obamacare implementation and it can\u2019t be reversed on a dime.\u00a0 In short, people are still going to lose their health insurance.\u00a0 As such, legislators should pass no law owning the President\u2019s promise that \u201cif you like your health insurance you can keep it.\u201d\u00a0\nIn addition to creating more dependency, the President is using this law to pick and choose who gets waivers, which plans are grandfathered, and what businesses are advantaged.\u00a0 He continues to unilaterally choose whether or not to enforce major provisions of the law.\nIt is time to stop passing \u201cmessaging\u201d bills.\u00a0 Congress must repeal Obamacare.\u00a0 Trying to \u201cfix\u201d it only compounds the mess, multiplies the uncertainties, and leaves more Americans at jeopardy regarding their healthcare insurance.\u00a0 The President cannot shift the responsibility for his failure onto private insurance companies.\u00a0 The free market could handle matching customers with insurance products, but not under the heavy hand of government steering it to achieve political objectives.\n\u00a0\n--\u00a0 30\u00a0 --", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://web.archive.org/web/20140301172327/http://bridenstine.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/congressman-jim-bridenstine-votes-against-hr-3350-keep-your-health-plan"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8218856528401375, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}