Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) revealed to Breitbart News in an exclusive interview that he and Senators Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and Ron Johnson (R-WI), along with former Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA), will unveil their legislation on Wednesday to repeal and replace Obamacare through block grants.
Sen. Graham announced that they will reveal their legislation alongside a coalition of Republican senators.
Sen. Graham said, “I am really serious about repealing and replacing Obamacare. We just got back from an August break, most Republicans are furious, completely disappointed and disillusioned.”
“I am not ready to move on. I refuse to move on and refuse to leave the playing field with my legs tucked between my legs. The best idea I think is federalism. We have not even tried it,” Graham added.
The South Carolina senator complained that the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) continues to move at a snail’s pace to analyze their legislation to repeal Obamacare. Graham explained that the bill’s straightforward design should make it easy for the agency to analyze. He told Breitbart News, “I need CBO to score the bill to see if it meets the parameters of saving $135 billion. CBO is very bureaucratic, and I cannot get anyone to put pressure on CBO to get a score, it’s ridiculous. It should take three weeks for this bill. It’s a block grant we spend $1.2 trillion; we won’t spend any more. It’s not tough, it’s a defined set of money.”
Sen. Graham then explained that the bill should save a substantial amount of money, making it easier to construct a tax reform package. Congress would need to pass an Obamacare repeal package by September 30, as the end of the month is the deadline for budgetary reconciliation.
“We have the September 30 deadline; there’s no reason we cannot get this bill scored in the next week or so. That gives us time to bring it back to the floor and have a debate about health care,” Graham said. “It would be a debate worthy of the Senate; it would be a debate worthy of conservatism, which is the heart and soul of federalism. I’m looking for a real effort to repeal and replace Obamacare.”
Graham encouraged Republicans to not give up repealing Obamacare. Graham said, “I do not have the been there done that attitude. The idea of accepting defeat just blows my mind. Here’s one thing I will say about liberal Democrats, they are passionate about their ideas and they never quit.”
Graham then told Breitbart News that they “have a dozen governors who support the bill. I think that we can get more than 20.” Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and Utah Gov. Gary Herbert endorsed the Graham-Cassidy bill in exclusive interviews with Breitbart News. Graham said that Walker was “an intellectual force” behind this bill and Herbert was “the biggest cheerleader to support the Graham-Cassidy legislation.
Graham suggested that the idea of “repeal and replacing” Obamacare might not have been the best alternative to Obamacare. In Graham’s mind, Republicans should have promised to radically transform health care. Graham told Breitbart News, “In fact repeal and replace is not the right term, that is small thinking. We should have promised transformation of health care. Transformation of healthcare is getting money close the patient and further away from the bureaucrats in Washington. We should have been thinking about this since day one.”
Graham concluded, “I think that most Americans believe that government closest to the people is the best government, why does that not apply to health care?”
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