{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=PressReleases&ContentRecord_id=1b7b35a7-4b4f-4fa1-b44a-e788074614f9", "Obamacare: Predictions Coming True", "2013-11-20", "2013", "2013-11", "Republican", "House", "KY", "Mitch McConnell", "M000355", "www.mcconnell.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Washington, D.C. \u2013 U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell made the following remarks on the Senate floor\u00a0regarding the predictable consequences of Obamacare:\r\n\u201cIn recent weeks, we\u2019ve seen a lot of handwringing on the other side of the aisle over Obamacare, a little shock here, a little dismay there, and more than a little feigned outrage.\r\n\u201cWhat we haven\u2019t seen, of course, is anything even approaching a good answer as to why the President told the American people one thing and did the other. Or a solution to the national crisis of millions of Americans \u2014 some with very serious medical conditions \u2014 heading into the holiday season having just been told they will lose their health care plans.\r\n\u201cThe folks who voted for this law and the President whose name it bears did everything they could to keep these folks in the dark about the realities of Obamacare for more than three years.\r\n\u201cBut the problems we\u2019re seeing shouldn\u2019t come as news to anyone \u2013 least of all our Democrat friends.\r\n\u201cBecause what we\u2019ve seen are the utterly predictable consequences of Obamacare.\r\n\u201cAnd the fact is, a lot of folks warned about these kinds of consequences coming to pass. But the President\u2019s political machine just steamrolled anybody who spoke up. They laughed it all off. Dismissed everyone else as naysayers and cynics.\r\n\u201cWhen all the while they basically knew we were right.\r\n\u201cCountless independent experts, health-care professionals, and insurance authorities across the country all warned about what we\u2019re seeing now.\r\n\u201cAnd so did many of us.\r\n\u201cIf only the Democrats who run Washington had listened.\r\n\u201cBut the President needed their votes for a bill he hoped would define his legacy, so they gambled that their constituents would just learn to live with Obamacare and forget the false promises.\r\n\u201cIn other words, Washington Democrats were specifically warned about the kinds of consequences we\u2019re seeing and they voted for Obamacare anyway.\r\n\u201cRepublicans repeatedly warned about Americans losing their health plans. Repeatedly.\r\n\u201cWe repeatedly warned about Americans losing access to their doctors and hospitals.\r\n\u201cWe repeatedly warned about rising costs and skyrocketing premiums.\r\n\u201cCheck the Congressional Record. We warned and we warned and we warned about each of these things.\r\n\u201cFrankly, we shouldn\u2019t have had to. It doesn\u2019t take an actuary to figure this stuff out.\r\n\u201cAnd the things my constituents now have to put up with as a result of this law they\u2019re simply unacceptable.\r\n\u201cKimberly Maggard from Nicholasville wrote that the health plan available to her through the Obamacare exchange would cost more than her family\u2019s house payment and car payment combined.\r\n\u201cHere\u2019s what she said: \u2018We are just average Kentuckians working and living paycheck to paycheck without any assistance from government programs. I really don't know what we will do if we have to pay that amount out for insurance. We might lose our home\u2026our transportation\u2026my daughter might have to drop out of college\u2026the list just goes on and on. What are we supposed to do?\u2019\r\n\u201cHarriet White from Rockfield said that Obamacare is negatively impacting her family\u2019s finances and quality of care. \u2018The sad truth,\u2019 she said, \u2018is that like my co-workers, my deductible has doubled along with my premiums. The only way to be able to adjust is for us to either reduce or stop our 401K contributions. This is hardly affordable health care.\u2019\r\n\u201cAnd here\u2019s Larry Thompson from Lexington: \u2018[The] health plan that I've had for 10 years just got cancelled, and the least expensive plan on the exchange is a 246% increase \u2013 that means hundreds of extra dollars per month we don't have.\u2019\r\n\u201cLook: All of this is unacceptable. And so many of Obamacare\u2019s consequences were basically predicted by Republicans years ago.\r\n\u201cSo it\u2019s no wonder vulnerable Democrats are dashing for the exits, performing political contortions that would make Houdini blush. But here\u2019s the thing: until these folks are willing to face reality, I doubt it will matter.\r\n\u201cOne of our colleagues on the other side was asked in 2009 if she\u2019d accept \u2018100% responsibility\u2019 and \u2018100% accountability\u2019 for the failure or success of any legislation she voted for. She said she would.\r\n\u201cSo she and her colleagues now have a choice.\r\n\u201cThey can keep trying to distance themselves from Obamacare in public while simultaneously protecting it from meaningful change in private \u2013 to keep standing by as this trainwreck unloads on the middle class.\r\n\u201cOr they can simply accept that they were wrong to ignore all the warnings, then work with Republicans to repeal and replace Obamacare with real, bipartisan health care reform.\r\n\u201cIf Washington Democrats are looking for a political exit, that\u2019s the only meaningful one available.\r\n\u201cAnd if they\u2019re looking for the best policy outcome \u2013 to do right by the people who elected them \u2013 they\u2019ll reach the same conclusion too. That\u2019s the good news.\r\n\u201cI hope they\u2019ll get there soon.\r\n\u201cBecause we\u2019ve already seen Washington Democrats travel through just about every one of the stages of grief.\r\n\u201cDenial at first, claiming the law\u2019s only problem was that it was just too popular.\r\n\u201cThen anger, pointing fingers of blame at contractors, Republicans, the media, really anyone but themselves.\r\n\u201cThen bargaining, proposing nips and tucks to a law that needs an overhaul instead.\r\n\u201cBut for the sake of our country, let\u2019s hope they just speed right along to acceptance \u2013 the acceptance that Obamacare can\u2019t work and won\u2019t work. And that their constituents deserve better.\r\n\u201cWhen they do, Republicans will be right here \u2013 just as we always have been \u2013 ready to work with them to start over with real reforms that decrease costs and improve access to care.\r\n\u201cThat\u2019s what our constituents have wanted all along. That\u2019s just what we should give them.\u201d", 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://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=PressReleases&ContentRecord_id=1b7b35a7-4b4f-4fa1-b44a-e788074614f9"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7032470311969519, "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"}