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Chairman Ryan on Fox: ‘We have an obligation to offer an alternative’ to Obamacare

March 3, 2015 — Press Releases   

WASHINGTON — This morning, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) spoke to Fox News about the “off-ramp from Obamacare” that he, along with Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) and Education and the Workforce Chairman John Kline (R-MN), proposed this morning in a Wall Street Journal op-ed. The plan comes as the Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments Wednesday in a case that will determine whether the Obama administration overstepped its legal authority by providing Obamacare subsidies in states with federal exchanges.

Should the court strike the subsides, the three chairmen have proposed an alternative that can be put in place in those states. As Chairman Ryan explained it on Fox News:

“[N]o American should be penalized for the Obama administration’s blatant disregard for the law and we feel that we have an obligation to offer an alternative. To show an off-ramp out of Obamacare so that people can actually get affordable health insurance. Here’s what Obamacare does—it takes away your ability to choose the plan that you want. It makes health insurance much, much, more expensive and then it takes money from hardworking tax payers to subsidize it for some making it more expensive for all. And that’s why we have to have an alternative that is a patient-centered alternative that gives people more choices and lower prices and better access.”

Chairman Ryan was also asked about Tuesday’s speech from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before a Joint Meeting of Congress. On the question of stopping the threat of a nuclear Iran, the Chairman commented:

Look, Ronald Reagan walked away from Mikhail Gorbachev at a very unique time and made us stronger. I don’t know if Barack Obama has that in him, but the last thing we want to do is get a bad deal that makes it more likely that Iran will get a nuclear weapon or that we’ll trigger a nuclear arms race in the middle east. This is not a country that is a democracy. This is not a country that respects individual rights. This is a country that has dedicated itself to wiping out another country that is the greatest sponsor of terrorism around the world. And so it does matter whether they get a bomb or get close to a bomb, and that’s why we’re all concerned about it.

WATCH the entire interview here.

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SUBCOMMITTEE: Health    SUBCOMMITTEE: Full Committee