Replies

This is the response I got when I hammered him on his cloture vote!! Dear Mr. Eppler: Thank you for contacting me regarding the Continuing Resolution (CR) and defunding of Obamacare. I know how passionately Texans feel about this issue, and I appreciate the benefit of your comments.

All Americans should be exempt from the onerous and costly provisions of Obamacare and the best way to do this is to repeal and defund the law in its entirety.

Texans continue to share with me real-life examples of how this law is hurting businesses, killing jobs, and burdening individuals with costlier premiums.

All Americans should receive relief from this law, so I was pleased when the House of Representatives chose to listen to the American people and sent the Senate a CR that funded the government and defunded Obamacare.

Because of procedural rules in the Senate, the only way for Senators to vote yes or no on defunding Obamacare was to vote for cloture, thereby allowing a simple majority vote to defund Obamacare. Only five Senate Democrats were needed to defund Obamacare. However, Democrats continued to ignore the pleas of the American people and stripped the language that defunded Obamacare. I joined with all Republicans to vote against the final Senate CR that included funding for Obamacare.

House Republicans continued to send reasonable packages to the Senate that would have funded the government but provided relief for Americans from this law, including bills that would have delayed Obamacare for a year, permanently repealed the Medical Device Tax, delayed Obamacare’s individual mandate, and required that Congressional members and staff live under the same rules as the American people. Senate Democrats rejected these reasonable compromises.

On Tuesday, October 1, 2013, the U.S. government funding authority expired, resulting in a government shutdown. Unfortunately, this shutdown did not prevent the implementation of Obamacare and the health care exchanges opened as scheduled.

At every opportunity to defund or repeal the law, I have voted in favor of doing so, and I will not waver in my opposition to this law. To read further about my efforts, please visit my website at:

http://www.cornyn.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=senator-cornyn-record-on-obamacare.

I appreciate having the opportunity to represent Texas in the United States Senate. Thank you for taking the time to contact me.

Sincerely, JOHN CORNYN United States Senator