{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=PressReleases&ContentRecord_id=72acda29-a7dc-4cd9-99a2-1c49f50ee3d4", "Obamacare: Broken Promises", "2013-11-13", "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 numerous broken promises of Obamacare:\r\n\u201cOne of the favorite pastimes of politicians in Washington is to talk about how frustrated the American people are with politicians in Washington. After the past few weeks, it\u2019s easy to see why.  \u00a0  \u201cI\u2019m talking about the President\u2019s promise \u2014 repeated dozens of times \u2014 that if you like your health care plan, you can keep it. And the sobering realization by millions of Americans that it just wasn\u2019t true.\r\n\u201cSome of the top fact-checkers in the country have used terms like \u2018Pants on Fire\u2019 and \u2018False\u2019 and \u2018Four Pinocchios\u2019 to describe the claim that, under Obamacare, folks would be able to keep their plans.\r\n\u201cIn a matter of weeks, it\u2019s gone from being one of the law\u2019s top selling points to a national punch line. And if millions of people weren\u2019t so frustrated and upset by it, it might be funny. But it\u2019s not the least bit funny.  \u00a0  \u201cAt this stage, about 50,000 folks are believed to have signed up for insurance on the federal exchange \u2013 way below Administration estimates \u2013 while at least 3.5 million Americans have lost their health coverage.  \u00a0  \u201cIn other words, about twice as many folks have lost their insurance in the state of Idaho alone since October 1st as have obtained health insurance across the entire federal exchange. So this is a real crisis.\r\n\u201cIn my home state of Kentucky, over a quarter of a million people have lost private health care plans so far, and only about 7,000 Kentuckians have been able to obtain new private insurance under Obamacare.\r\n\u201cIf you consider that Kentucky received more than $250 million in taxpayer funds to get Obamacare up and running, that works out to about $35,000 per private insurance enrollee. That\u2019s before taxpayer subsidies.  \u00a0  \u201cSo we\u2019ve thrown untold millions at this disastrous rollout and what do we have to show for it? Millions of people losing their coverage, despite assurances from the President that they\u2019d be able to keep it \u2014 period.  \u00a0  \u201cAnd let\u2019s be very clear about something: these insurance cancellations are no accident.  \u00a0  \u201cIt\u2019s the way the law was designed.\r\n\u201cRemember: in order for Obamacare to work, millions of Americans had to lose the coverage they\u2019d purchased on their own, so the government could dump them into the Obamacare exchanges. That way, the government could then get them to pay more to subsidize coverage for everybody else.\r\n\u201cThat 31-year old dentist from Louisville I mentioned last week \u2014 the one who isn\u2019t married and has no kids but now has to carry pediatric dental care on his plan? Well, he\u2019s one of the unfortunate ones who\u2019s now subsidizing care for everybody else. And despite the fact that the President and the other supporters of this bill vowed up and down that folks like this would be able to keep the health care plans they had and liked\u2026the fact is, that was never true. And they knew it.  \u00a0  \u201cThey knew folks would lose their coverage.  \u00a0  \u201cJust as the President once famously predicted that utility rates would \u2018necessarily skyrocket\u2019 as a result of his cap and trade policy, so too would health care rates skyrocket under Obamacare. The only difference is that on health care, Democrats apparently knew they couldn\u2019t tell people how it would all shake out in the end.  \u00a0  \u201cBut they knew. That\u2019s why, in 2010, every Democrat who was in the Senate voted against a Republican proposal designed to hold the President to his word.\r\n\u201cThe fact is, the President\u2019s health care law was designed to capture millions of middle-class Americans, jack up their premiums, and use the extra cash to keep Obamacare afloat. This isn\u2019t some unforeseen consequence of the law\u2026it is the law. It\u2019s working just like they designed it. Just like what they voted for.   \u00a0  \u201cSo it\u2019s hard to take seriously the faux outrage we\u2019ve seen of late from some of our Democrat friends.  \u00a0  \u201cAnd as for the President, well, this should be no great revelation to him either. Just the other day, the media pointed out that the administration knew for years that Americans would lose coverage. But here\u2019s something else: at a bipartisan Health Care Summit in 2010, the President was asked directly about this kind of thing by House Majority Leader Cantor. In reply, the President admitted that \u20188 to 9 million\u2019 would have to change coverage \u2026and then justified it on the grounds that they\u2019d be getting better coverage from the government once they lost it.\r\n\u201cSo the President actually admitted during that event that millions would lose their health care \u2026 and still went out on the campaign trail claiming Americans could keep the health care plans they had.  \u00a0  \u201cThis is why Americans feel so hurt by this particular broken promise. And what many of them want to know is this: Why would Washington Democrats persist with it even after it became clear it was false?  \u00a0  \u201cI think the reasons are simple enough.  \u00a0  \u201cOne, they needed to pass the Obamacare bill; and two, they needed to sell it to a skeptical public.  \u00a0  \u201cAnd neither would have been possible without it.  \u00a0  \u201cIf the President had gone out and told people that if he likes your plan, you get to keep it, it would never have passed. And that\u2019s why the President\u2019s so-called \u201capology\u201d the other night rang so hollow for so many.  \u00a0  \u201cObamacare\u2019s problems run so deep and the broken promises are so pervasive that it is impossible to identify an \u2018easy fix\u2019. It truly ought to be repealed or delayed. But if the President is truly sorry for breaking his promise to the American people, there is a natural place to start: He could support legislation that would help restore these plans to folks who want them back.  \u00a0  \u201cAnd he can act on it as early as this Friday.  \u00a0  \u201cThat\u2019s because the House is expected to send over a bill that would allow Americans to keep the plans they have and want to keep. There\u2019s no reason the President and Senate Democrats should not join Republicans and the American people in supporting it.\r\n\u201cThis doesn\u2019t have to be a partisan battle. These cancellations haven\u2019t discriminated based on party. The people out there who are frustrated and upset at losing their health care plans are Democrats and Republicans. The President can help all of them by backing the bill the House is expected to pass Friday.  \u00a0  \u201cI think that\u2019s basically what Bill Clinton was suggesting yesterday when he said the President should honor the commitment the government made to these folks, even if it means changing the law.  \u00a0  \u201cI\u2019ve had a lot of disagreements with Bill Clinton over the years. But at key moments he was willing to cross party lines. And I think here\u2019s a moment where the American people are expecting President Obama to do the same. Allowing Americans to keep their health plans is a promise Democrats made over, and over, and over again.  \u00a0  \u201cWhether or not they meant it, Democrats promised this much to the American people \u2013 and it\u2019s their duty to make good on what they said. Once the House acts, my conference will be watching closely to see whether the Senate Democrat majority allows a vote and will help us send that bill to the President\u2019s desk. So will the American people.  \u00a0  \u201cSo my message to the President is simple. Mr. President: our constituents are frustrated and they\u2019re upset. You can help. Do the right thing.\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=72acda29-a7dc-4cd9-99a2-1c49f50ee3d4"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.6685111913830042, "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"}