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WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) today spoke on the Senate floor to refute Senator Harry Reid’s (D-Nev.) assertion that Americans with stories of struggle under Obamacare are liars and “all of them are untrue.” On Wednesday, Sen. Reid used a column written by his own political consultant to discredit the stories being told of Americans who have very real struggles and have lost their health care coverage as a result of Obamacare. The Majority Leader went on to accuse those working to bring light to the broken promises of the Affordable Care Act of being “as un-American as anyone I can imagine.”
Highlights from Sen. Moran’s remarks can be found below, along with links to video downloads.
(00:46) “I have heard directly from countless Kansans about the devastating effects Obamacare has had on them and their families… They are, most assuredly, not liars. They do not deserve to be called liars by any member of this body.”
(06:31) “I would also point out that ObamaCare has been heavily debated for years now. Five years. During that time, there have been so many broken promises, so many falsehoods, and so many direct lies. We’ve all heard them: ‘ObamaCare will lower all of our health care costs,’ or ‘ObamaCare won’t cut Medicare,’ or ‘ObamaCare will create jobs.’ And who can forget, ‘If you like your doctor or health plan, you can keep them.’
(07:02) “These were the lies. These were the untruths. These were the promises that were made and summarily broken. That is why so many Americans are outraged. It’s time Washington stopped dismissing them and started listening to them.
(07:45) “Accusations of who is un-American are deeply unfortunate but all too common… From the earliest days of our Republic, it has been a tactic exerted by those in power to humiliate and discredit those who come from different backgrounds or have views that challenge those in power. And it’s part of a strategy to convince ordinary Americans that sinister forces are working to undermine our country and our institutions. Ironically, by charging some person or group of being un-American or disloyal, the effort to stifle an exchange of ideas erodes the very foundation of democratic government…
(09:10) “Perhaps the most famous example, of course, is a senator using his position to charge people as diverse as Hollywood actors and Army General and Secretary of State George C. Marshall, of political views that the senator believed were traitorous. He referred to such people as ‘enemies from within.’ Why would a senator reach such a conclusion? Because those political views disagreed with his own. Maybe it was also for the headlines and attention he craved. Or perhaps he was just paranoid in search of a boogeyman…
(11:02) “No one has the right to determine whose beliefs are American or un-American – certainly no one in the United States House of Representatives or the United States Senate. It is troubling that there is a reflexive reaction in Congress to label political critics as ‘un-American’ or ‘disloyal.’ Recognizing disagreement is part of the decision-making process of our democracy and a respectful dialogue between all Americans is critical to a well-functioning republic. Certainly, anything short of that is not worthy of the Senate floor.”
(11:45) “This week, the New York Times/CBS poll found that only 6 percent of Americans believe that Obamacare is ‘working well and should be kept in place as is.’ I ask the Majority Leader, does that mean that the other 94 percent of Americans surveyed are liars?
(13:17) “…the Majority Leader is speaking about the dysfunction in the Senate that he alone has the ability to control. The pilot of the plane can’t and shouldn’t blame the passengers for the turbulence.
(16:22) “The litmus test for what is or is not American behavior cannot be administered or measured in partisan terms. Yet the bulk of the comments made by the Majority leader attempted to do just that… whether you agree or disagree with the direction that our country is heading, you, as an American, have a right to voice that opinion without having your allegiance to the United States called into question.”
YOUTUBE: Click here to watch his remarks on YouTube.
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