WASHINGTON – Congressman Spencer Bachus (AL-6) today said the government takeover of health care should be repealed. 

            Bachus delivered his remarks on the House floor during debate on a bill to repeal Obamacare.  Bachus will vote for repeal when the measure is brought up for a vote later today. 

            Congressman Bachus’ full statement follows.  To view his remarks, click here. 

The first rule of the physician is “Do No Harm.”  The government takeover of health care does a lot of harm and the damage will get worse. 

Just on pure economics, this is a bitter pill.  Small businesses are facing tax increases and higher costs, dropping coverage, and holding off on new hires.  The federal government is taking on a new open-ended entitlement it can’t afford at a time of historically high annual deficits and a huge national debt.  Washington yet again is building an expensive new bureaucracy to tell people what to do. 

It violates the principles on which this country was established – American Exceptionalism. America is not Europe.  Our system is based on the individual, on choice, on freedom, and on personal initiative and competition.  

The federal government has no business making private medical decisions that ought to be between you and your doctor.   

The mandate forcing individuals to buy health insurance is an intrusion into personal liberty and a violation of our onstitutional principles. 

Allowing taxpayer money to pay for abortions is reprehensible and cannot be allowed to stand.

We can address the issues in our health care system without the government running everything and spending uncontrollably.  We heard what the American people said last November and in our town halls.  To get health care right, we have to start by repealing a misguided law that is bad policy and bad medicine.