Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN), the senior Republican on the U.S. Senate health committee this week joined in introducing a bill and an amendment to delay the health care law’s employer and individual mandates until 2015.
Senator Alexander said, “Full repeal of this law is my goal—no family in Tennessee should ever be forced to comply with the mess and mistakes of Obamacare—but I hope even Democrats will be willing to see that families certainly shouldn’t have to next year when American businesses are getting a break. We need to repeal this law and start passing step-by-step reforms that transform the health care delivery system by putting patients back in charge, giving them more choices, and reducing the cost of health care so that more people can afford it.”
The Fairness for American Families amendment was introduced by Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Senator Dan Coats (R-IN) with Senators Alexander, John Cornyn (R-TX), Tom Coburn (R-OK) and John Barrasso (R-WY).
Senator Alexander also co-sponsored a bill introduced by Senator Coats earlier this week that would delay the health care law’s employer and individual mandates until 2015.
He is an original cosponsor of legislation introduced by Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) to fully defund the law.
Alexander voted against the health care bill after warning his colleagues it would be “an historic mistake,” and has since voted on the Senate floor to repeal or defund Obamacare 23 times since it became law, and overall to oppose or repeal Obamacare or its provisions more than 90 times.