The Supreme Court’s decision to uphold Obamacare has raised the stakes in the race for the White House and made it “the most important election in our lifetime,” House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.”
The Wisconsin Republican called the ruling “disturbing,” and said the American people ultimately will decide the fate of the legislation when they cast their votes on Nov. 6.
“I’m very disappointed in the ruling,” Ryan said. “I think the chief justice had to contort logic and reason to come up with this ruling.”
He said the Supreme Court’s interpretation of President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare plan, specifically its individual mandate, as a constitutionally allowable tax is flawed. The original bill never would have passed through Congress had it been described as a tax, he added.
“The broken promises and the hypocrisy are becoming breathtaking from the president, who says one thing to get this past Congress and then another thing to get it past the Supreme Court,” Ryan said. “We will vote to repeal the entire law . . .”
Ryan said Obamacare raids Medicare to pay for government-issued health insurance and will result in a debt crisis.
“We don’t raid Medicare for Obamacare,” Ryan said of his proposed budget plan. “We repeal Obamacare and extend the solvency of the Medicare trust fund in our budget.”
With its decision, the Supreme Court “just punted” the issue back to voters, he said.
“This is a new, government-granted right,” Ryan said. “We disagree with the notion that our rights come from government. This election is the choice of two futures. Do you want a government-centered society in a government-driven economy and government-rationed healthcare, or do you want the American opportunity society with a safety net? We have one more chance as a people to get that back, and that chance is going to come on November the sixth.”
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