WASHINGTON D.C. – Tuesday on the floor of the Senate, Sen. Orrin Hatch addressed the Senate: “Let me be absolutely clear on this point: I oppose Obamacare, and I’m going to fight as long as it takes to repeal that misguided law and replace it with a system that actually works for American families.  That’s why I’ve collaborated with several of my colleagues to unveil a framework for the Patient CARE Act, a plan that would repeal Obamacare and replace it with common-sense, patient-centered reforms that reduce health care costs and increase access to affordable, high-quality care.” said Hatch. “

The reason for this address, Hatch said in his speech, was because of some Obamacare partisans misconstruing his approach to Sylvia Mathews Burwell’s nomination, to head the Department of Health and Human Services,as an acknowledgment that somehow the Affordable Care Act is working.  

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“In reality, the mass cancellation of insurance coverage last fall was just the first prick of pain Obamacare will inflict on the American people,” Hatch said. “I could talk for hours about rising premiums, growing deficits, backdoor bailouts, and numerous other maladies — all of which threaten the quality and affordability of health insurance for so many Americans already struggling through the Obama economy.”

In Tuesday’s address Hatch also spoke on what he said he felt were the lawless ways in which the Obama Administration was going about implementing laws. He said that the Administration has acted unilaterally on at least 22 separate occasions to alter the law.

Hatch said: “These actions form a troubling pattern of lawlessness and executive overreach by the Obama administration.  One that all citizens — and all members of this esteemed Body, whether Republican or Democrat — ought to condemn and resist.”  

Specific examples of the lawlessness he saw included the president’s promise of “if you like your plan, you can keep it,” calling it a key selling point of the law. He said without that promise, the law would not have passed. The White House never intended for Americans to be able to keep their preferred plans, he said.

“I don’t say that lightly. It isn’t some unsubstantiated, partisan attack. It is a well-documented fact,” Hatch said.

Several respected news outlets have reported how policy aides within the Obama White House objected to the president’s obviously inaccurate claim — if you like your plan, you can keep it — only to be overruled by the president’s political advisors. He said:

I have long argued that Obamacare unconstitutionally intrudes on our most basic liberties.  But those liberties cannot be secured when the executive branch defies legal bounds and ignores its constitutional obligations. Our nation needs new leadership.  Ultimately, we need to elect a new president in 2016.  One who will respect the Constitution and seek to protect the rights of its citizens.  But until then, we need an HHS Secretary who will uphold the law and respect the rightful prerogatives of the legislative branch. That’s why I pressed Ms. Burwell during her confirmation hearing last week about the administration’s illegitimate and lawless actions—and about the need for a different approach.

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