Pence on ObamaCare : “This Will Not Stand”

Washington, DC – U.S. Congressman Mike Pence, Chairman of the House Republican Conference, made the following remarks this morning regarding repeal of the Democrats’ government takeover of health care on MSNBC’s ‘Morning Joe’:

(Excerpts Below)

Joe Scarborough: Dick Durbin says this is the largest tax increase in history. Comment? I’m sorry. The largest tax cut in U.S. history. I’m so thrown off by it. What do you think?

Rep. Mike Pence: Well, I saw it this morning live on the treadmill, guys, and I almost tripped and flew off the back of the thing. It has $569 billion in tax increases, it mandates that every American buy health insurance, whether they want it or need it or not and it mandates that every American business buy health insurance or relegate their employees to a government-run plan. It’s going to add to deficits, add to debt. But, hey, if they want to say that the premium subsidies thrown around in here are tax cuts, more power to them.

Scarborough: That’s what I want to ask you, though. Because he said that there are over $500 billion in tax cuts. Where are the tax cuts coming from because I read the CBO report, I also read the report from the Joint Committee on Taxation. I saw nothing about tax cuts. I saw everything about $435 billion in tax increases.

Rep. Pence: Well, actually, our number was $569 billion in job-killing tax increases during the worst recession in 25 years. You mentioned this morning, Joe, that actually raising taxes on investment at a time when you’re trying to get people to invest in America.

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Rep. Pence: Look, I’m just telling you, the American people are not confused by this. The White House is understandably taking a victory lap and Chuck Todd was saying that they are all at least on cloud seven this morning. That’s fine and the president will probably get some modest bump but I think the American people, frankly, are in a state of shock that the American Congress passed legislation that a decisive majority of this country did not want them to pass. I think the president is hitting the road tomorrow but you know, one more speech about the same bad plan isn’t going to change any American minds.

Mike Barnicle: I’ve heard you and several other members of the Republican party talk about your concern, a concern I think a lot of people share, with the growth of government. And some people view the passage of this health bill as another step in the increasing growth of government. So my question to you is, knowing that you believe government is too big, give me some specific examples of government programs that you’d like to cut, that you’d like to see disappear.

Rep. Pence: ObamaCare. How is that, Mike?

Barnicle: That’s a good start.

Rep. Pence: You know, how about a $1 trillion government takeover of health care that they actually are telling the American people is going to save them money. Look, Mike, we are running, this year, a $1.6 trillion deficit. The American people see a mountain range of borrowing and spending and bailouts and takeovers and they’ve had it. I really do think that we’re moving into an environment where Republicans and Democrats and Independents are ready for leadership that is willing to sit down at the table and make the hard choices and I hope to be a part of that at some point in the near future because we have to be. The truth is, this country is going bankrupt and by this administration and this Congress, we just greatly accelerated America’s pathway to bankruptcy with the launch of this ObamaCare program.

But the American people are going to turn it around. This will not stand. Let me say that again. This will not stand. The American people will require that the American Congress and this administration put our fiscal house in order or they are going to replace the American Congress and replace this administration with men and women who will.

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Scarborough: Do you not feel confident that given the choice between that vision of America and your vision of America that this Fall your vision of America will prevail?

Rep. Pence: Absolutely confident. I think that’s why the majority of the American people were with us and are still with us on health care reform that gives them more choices and not more government. We can scrap this bill, repeal this bill and immediately start over by allowing Americans to purchase across state lines, pass medical malpractice reform, cover pre-existing conditions like the one your beloved son has, by strengthening state funds. We don’t need to answer this with more government, more deficits, and more debt. And that’s what Congress and the administration did yesterday.

Scarborough: So you support the pre-existing part of this bill and some of these other reforms?

Rep. Pence: Well, not the way that they did. My wife had a pre-existing condition. I lost my job 15 years ago. My wife was pregnant with our third child and we had to go to the State Guarantee Fund, it was the insurance of last resort in many states, and we bought the insurance there so she could go to term in the hospital. It was very, very expensive, though. What Republicans have proposed is let’s pass medical malpractice reform and use the savings in bloc grants to the states to strengthen those funds. We can answer this with more choices and more freedom, not more government. And again, I want to say, ObamaCare, this will not stand. The American people are going to push back hard, and I don’t know if it’s in the near term or the longterm, but we’re going to give the American people a health care system built on freedom.

NOTE: To watch the interview online, click here.

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