Exclusive—FreedomWorks’ Jason Pye on Delivering FreedomFraud Awards: ‘Some Republicans Like Obamacare’

Freedomworks Fraud Award
Sean Moran

FreedomWorks Vice President Jason Pye delivered “FreedomFraud” awards to the six senators who flip-flopped in favor of Obamacare. Pye told Breitbart News, “Some Republicans like Obamacare.”

FreedomWorks, one of the leading conservative grassroots activist groups, delivered the awards to Sens. Rob Portman (R-OH), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), John McCain (R-AZ), Dean Heller (R-NV), and Lamar Alexander (R-TN), who all voted against Sen. Rand Paul’s clean Obamacare repeal bill when they had voted for the very same legislation in 2015. Sen. Paul’s bill failed 45-55; the bill needed at least five of these six senators to vote for his clean repeal bill to pass through the Senate.

A FreedomWorks statement read:

The FreedomFraud Awards recognize the height of political fraud by senators who voted to defend Obamacare by voting against a bill virtually the same as one they supported less than two years ago. While protected by Barack Obama’s veto, they supported Obamacare and railed against it. Now that President Trump supports the bill, they have exposed themselves as political liars.

“These people committed the greatest political fraud in American history,” said Pye. “Republican politics has focused on repealing Obamacare for the better part of a decade. There were frequent votes to repeal Obamacare. These senators showed great contempt for their constituents by going against everything they’ve stood for on Obamacare repeal.”

Pye revealed to Breitbart News that they will deliver the FreedomFraud awards to lawmakers who voted against Obamacare repeal. He said:

We had the 2015 vote a couple days ago. We had seven Republican senators vote against that. They’re all frauds, that’s why we’re here today, delivering these awards to these guys because they have betrayed their past conservative votes. We’re disheartened, after how many years we’ve been talking about this. Hopefully, we can find some agreement to send this bill back to the House, get into conference and actually do something. Obviously, I think that Senator McCain’s vote was the one that hurt the most. We don’t think of McCain as much of a conservative; he’s proven that in the past couple of decades in the Senate but at the same time he voted for the 2015 bill.

FreedomWorks’ Pye explained his experience delivering the FreedomFraud awards to the six recalcitrant senators. Pye revealed to Breitbart News:

There was at least one office and at least one staffer who seemed like he agreed with what we were doing but I think the general response from these offices was staring blankly into the certificates while we were delivering them. At the same time, we have to call these people out for perpetrating a fraud on the American people for the last seven years to the American people. They voted to repeal Obamacare, we have statement after statement and vote after vote, both in the House and the Senate and we were told at the end of the day once we had a Republican president all we would need is a simple majority, 51 votes, and then a couple days ago we fell just short with 45 votes. Of course, we expected a couple of these guys to go back on their word but we didn’t expect as many as we did.

But now is the time for accountability, now is the time to start calling them out, having activists go to their town hall meetings this August once the Senate finally adjourns and have these constituents and conservative activist for the last seven years and the last 18 months that the 2015bill was the baseline, we need to start asking for answers. I think that’s what the conservative movement needs, that’s what conservative activists deserve, that’s what the FreedomWorks’ activist community of 5 million activists deserves, that’s what they want to hear right now.

Health care is a big topic, it keeps coming up, because they haven’t moved on from it yet. A lot of people are frustrated because they have all of these priorities to get done and we can’t even get the one we all agree on done. At least theoretically all agree upon. But let’s face facts it’s pretty clear now that there are some Republicans who like Obamacare. I think the Wednesday night vote shows that, I think that last night’s vote shows that, and I think that these guys for the last seven years or at least the last 18 months they have been perpetrating a fraud.

The Freedom Works vice president reacted to some of the senators who voted against Obamacare. Sen. Collins has consistently voted against any bill that would repeal or reform Obamacare in any form. Sen. Collins did not receive a FreedomFraud award because she has continually opposed repealing Obamacare, both in 2015 and this week in the Senate. Her opposition to repealing Obamacare has not deceived anyone. Pye asked, “Is Susan Collins actually a Republican? She conferences with the Republicans, there’s an R next to her name, but a question mark is more appropriate.”

The FreedomWorks’ vice present of legislative affairs questioned Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s recent opposition to repealing Obamacare despite voting in 2015 to repeal it. Pye explained:

As far as Lisa Murkowski goes, I don’t know what the hell is going on, I don’t know what has snapped or what is going on with her. She voted for this bill and she’s complained about how Obamacare is causing all these problems for Alaska and yet she voted the way she did. She even said that the other day that some Republicans like Obamacare. That is true certainly, she is one of them apparently despite all of her past complaints about Obamacare, like the premium hikes in Alaska.

Let’s be clear, the leadership gave the moderates everything they wanted. She voted against the BCRA which Chris Jacobs called it the Alaska pipeline, the giveaway to Alaska. There was $200 billion in wraparound Medicaid funding. Conservatives who were expressing concerns who compromised and compromised got a watered-down version of the consumer freedom option. We were getting just crumbs compared to what the moderates were getting, it was an act of political extortion and they still voted no. As far as their concerned FreedomWorks’ activists have nothing but contempt for these senators.

Despite Sen. McCain’s recent brain tumor diagnosis, Pye remains confused as to why McCain would vote against a repeal of Obamacare. Pye explained:

As the son of a veteran, we wish him the best, but at the same time last night was just a head-scratcher I still don’t understand it this morning, hours later. We have had regular order on this bill; it went through the committee process, it was not much more different than 18 months ago. For Senator McCain to vote against this, I just don’t understand where he is coming from.

Pye cautioned that moderate Republicans’ opposition to repealing Obamacare will tank grassroots activists’ support for establishment Republicans. He charged,

You really have to start worrying about voter enthusiasm for the conservative movement, we have been here now for almost seven months and we’ve moving into the August recess and what have we accomplished besides Neil Gorsuch? Nothing. People have to start worrying whether people will start to get anything done, at all. I mean, tax reform is supposedly the next big thing we’re going to be doing the best we can at FreedomWorks to get tax reform across the finish line, I’m not so worried about the House as compared to the Senate because a lot of people here seem to be in the wrong conference.

Pye concluded, “We have to repeal Obamacare. The conservative movement, these are the guys that knock on doors, who make calls, who pound pavement, every two, four, and six years for Republicans across the country and you want them to do this again in 2018 after what has been done this week? Good luck with that.”

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