Rep. Cory Gardner on Thursday denounced the U.S. Supreme Court ‘s decision to uphold Obamacare, saying it gives the government “an unprecedented power” to tax Americans.
In an interview with Newsmax.TV, the Colorado Republican vowed that Congress would repeal the legislation, and that voters would make sure President Barack Obama is booted out of office in November.
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“Today the court spoke. On Nov. 6 the people will speak. We have an opportunity to elect a new Congress and a new president who will do what’s right by the people of this country, to make sure that we actually have health-care solutions that bring down the cost while increasing the quality of care, but do so in a way that doesn’t infringe on people’s freedom,” Gardner said.
The court ruling said that the individual mandate requiring uninsured Americans to buy health coverage was constitutional because it was in effect a tax. Gardner said he was staggered by that reasoning.
“The Supreme Court made the wrong decision in my opinion and I believe that the fact that they have now given Congress a green light to tax people for not spending money is an unprecedented power,” he told Newsmax.TV.
“It’s ironic that the Fourth of July is next week,” he added. “I think that as people understand and fully digest the new power that Congress has to tax people for not spending money, they will be equally outraged.”
He said that just because the Supreme Court ruled the law was constitutional doesn’t mean that it’s right for America.
“They didn’t say anything makes this good policy, in fact we know it is not good policy. That’s why we will continue to work, whether it’s through the budget, or whether it’s through our repeal efforts, to replace it with real solutions and we will continue to do that,” Gardner said.
He said the one positive thing the ruling did was to underscore that Obama lied when he insisted there were would be no new taxes on middle-class Americans.
“They confirmed that the president broke his promise about not taxing the middle class,” Gardner said of the justices. “Clearly they have now said that this president is taxing the middle class of this country.”
The Colorado congressman vowed that Republican lawmakers would abolish the legislation.
“We (will) repeal the bill and we put in place real solutions that actually work to lower the cost of care — making sure that we have malpractice reform, allowing people to buy and purchase insurance across state lines, to use association health plans, ideas that we know will give the private sector a more market-based approach to lower the cost of care,” he said.
“It is a patient-centered approach. It’s an approach about making sure that we allow patients to control their own medical decisions.,” he said of the GOP strategy.
He said the Obama health care law would have a negative effect on an untold number of business owners.
“They’re worried about how they’re going to afford the mandate,” he said. “I’ve talked to countless business owners who say they’re going to have to sell, break up part of their business.”
“This is adding uncertainty to our businesses that don’t need it at a time the economy continues to suffer,” he said.
On another matter, Gardner said the House would vote Thursday to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress for refusing to turn over all documents requested by a House panel probing the botched gun-running investigation known as “Operation Fast and Furious.”
“Eric Holder earned this subpoena vote by not complying with a subpoena from Congress. This is a power that we have to make sure that the Constitution is being obeyed. We provide checks and balances to the other branch of government,” Gardner said.
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