Politics & Government

Rep. Graves, Sen. Cruz Renew Push To Defund Obamacare

The bicameral effort to defund entire health care law comes after Obama delays employer mandate.

U.S. Rep. Tom Graves (R-GA-14) and U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) recently introduced companion bills to defund Obamacare in a new push to prevent taxpayer dollars from being used to implement the law. The effort comes after the Obama Administration last week delayed the enforcement of Obamacare’s employer mandate for one year.

“By delaying Obamacare for businesses, the Administration has finally admitted that their unprecedented expansion of government is too complicated, has too many regulations and will cost too many jobs,” said Graves in an email. “We must seize the moment and permanently delay the entire law. Congress can do this. We control the purse strings and can protect taxpayers from funding Obamacare. Businesses have their delay and the special interests have their waivers. Let’s not leave working families or anyone else on the tracks for this train wreck. I thank Senator Cruz for leading the Senate effort and look forward to working together to defund Obamacare.”

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Graves previously introduced the Defund Obamacare Act in March of this year and also in the 111th and 112th Congresses. The reintroduction comes as the House and Senate join efforts to defund the president’s health care law, which imposes a $1 trillion tax hike and an estimated 127 million hours of regulatory compliance.

“I’m proud to partner with Rep. Graves in a bicameral effort to defund the Obamacare train wreck,” said Cruz. “The President's signature legislation harms economic growth, disrupts the doctor-patient relationship, and tramples our liberties. We cannot just wait for this law to implode under its own weight – the time to act is now. We need to make every effort to ensure Obamacare is never implemented and guarantee we do not spend another dime on this destructive, job-killing legislation.”

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Specifically, the Defund Obamacare Act of 2013 deauthorizes future appropriations and rescinds prior appropriations that would implement any provision under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Public Law 111–148) and the healthcare provisions of the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (Public Law 111–152), while repealing any entitlements created by those acts.  


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