After today’s Supreme Court ruling in favor of Obamacare subsidies, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) declared that the 2016 election will be a referendum on Obamacare and any candidate who disagrees should drop out.
“Every GOP candidate for the Republican nomination should know that this decision makes the 2016 election a referendum on the full repeal of Obamacare,” Cruz said in a lengthy statement today.
“I have made repeal of this disastrous law a top priority since the first day I arrived in the Senate and have made its repeal central to my campaign,” the freshman senator said. “Any candidate not willing to do the same—and campaign on it every day—should step aside.”
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), another freshman vying for the White House, told CNN that he wants to reform Obamacare, but it’s “hard because we don’t have the leverage.”
“If we had the leverage where the president had to revisit this because part of it had been struck down, then we would have the leverage to force the president to revisit it,” Paul said.
“We have majorities and so we can bring it up and we can pass legislation, but getting the president to actually do something about it and actually have the leverage to get him to perhaps sign something that would change Obamacare, I think we’ve lost that leverage.”
The third freshman senator running for president, Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), issued a statement: “I disagree with the Court’s ruling and believe they have once again erred in trying to correct the mistakes made by President Obama and Congress in forcing Obamacare on the American people.”
“Despite the Court’s decision, ObamaCare is still a bad law that is having a negative impact on our country and on millions of Americans. I remain committed to repealing this bad law and replacing it with my consumer-centered plan that puts patients and families back in control of their health care decisions,” Rubio said. “We need Consumer Care, not ObamaCare.”
Gov. Scott Walker released a statement saying that “instead of just finger-pointing from the president for why his law is failing, we need real leadership in Washington, and Congress needs to repeal and replace Obamacare.”
Jeb Bush said as president of the United States, “I would make fixing our broken health care system one of my top priorities.”
“I will work with Congress to repeal and replace this flawed law with conservative reforms that empower consumers with more choices and control over their health care decisions,” Bush said.
Gov. Rick Perry said, “It’s time we repealed Obamacare and replaced it with truly affordable, patient centered-health care reform, and I look forward to laying out my ideas on this issue.”
“Today, the Supreme Court had its say; soon, the American people will have theirs,” Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said.
“Republicans must outline a clear and coherent vision for health care to win the trust of the American people to repeal Obamacare. And right now, I am the only candidate to put forward a comprehensive plan,” Jindal added.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member