The Fight Will Go On
Tonight, the House and Senate have passed a bill to increase the debt limit and re-open the government. However, it does nothing to defund or delay Obamacare, does nothing to cut spending, and just punts the tough decisions down the road for another few months. I voted NO.
At the beginning of the summer, I joined fellow conservatives like Senators Ted Cruz and Mike Lee in a grassroots effort to defund or delay Obamacare. We called on our leadership to pass government funding bills that would do exactly that, and for a while, they even listened. The House passed four bills to keep the government open and defund or delay Obamacare. We passed more than a dozen bills to re-open essential parts of the government. We tried everything we could to open the government, but shut down Obamacare.
Unfortunately, the President and Harry Reid refused to negotiate. They dragged our country into the first government shutdown in 17 years and to the brink of its first default in history. All because they refused to sit down and talk. They were AWOL, absent without leadership. Ultimately, because of their failure to negotiate, they led the nation to the brink of financial panic.
Some are calling tonight’s vote a win for the Democrats, but not all is lost. A month ago the President wanted a year-long debt limit increase, a clean continuing resolution, no changes to Obamacare, and a rollback of spending cuts. He got none of those things in the final bill. Because House Republicans took a strong stand, we forced the President to compromise. And we live to fight another day on Obamacare and spending, something I promise you I will do.
However, at the end of the day, the Senate plan was not good enough for the people of Mississippi and not good enough for our country. Without defunding or delaying Obamacare, without serious, dollar-for-dollar spending cuts, without something that would put our country back on a path to fiscal sanity, I could not support this legislation.
I want you to know that I will personally keep up the fight against Obamacare and the fight to rein in our nation’s out of control spending. We can’t keep pushing this off to another day. It’s too important for the future of our country.
While tonight’s vote was a missed opportunity to get rid of Obamacare, we will continue to fight the good fight for you, your family, and for the United States of America. Thank you for your continued prayers and support.
Congressman Steven Palazzo
10/17/13
Magnolia Tribune
