Fifteen Republican governors sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, urging the Senate to pass the Graham-Cassidy bill to repeal and replace Obamacare through block grants to the states.
The letter argued that “Obamacare is broken and the states are the best place to fix it.”
Support for Graham-Cassidy has grown exponentially in the past couple of weeks. President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence endorsed the bill and continue to reach out to governors and senators to get their support for the legislation. Speaker Paul Ryan, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, and House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows have endorsed the bill.
The list of Republican governors include:
- Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker
- Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson
- Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb
- Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds
- Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback
- Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin
- Maine Gov. Paul LePage
- Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant
- Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens
- Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts
- North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum
- Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin
- South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard
- Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam
- Utah Gov. Gary Herbert
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker endorsed the Graham-Cassidy legislation in an exclusive interview with Breitbart News. Walker said that the bill was “a winner all the way around.” Walker suggested, “What a perfect way to kickstart a true repeal and replace of Obamacare by sending it back to the states where we’re definitely more effective, more efficient, and more accountable to the people.”
Utah Gov. Gary Herbert, Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin, and Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds endorsed the Graham-Cassidy Obamacare repeal plan in exclusive statements to Breitbart News.
The letter from the Republican governors cites the 1990s welfare reform that block granted funding for the dole to the states and subsequently reduced dependence on public assistance programs and reduced the average American’s tax burden. The governors stated, “Welfare reform passed in the 1990s works because states were given maximum authority along with adequate funding. This model can work for the repeal and replacement of Obamacare.”
The Republican governors called on the Senate to pass the Graham-Cassidy legislation to pass before the September 30 deadline.
The governors charged:
Adequately funded block grants to the states, along with maximum flexibility and control, is the best option on the table. We appreciate the work of Senators Lindsey Graham, Bill Cassidy, Dean Heller, and Ron Johnson to draft language that embraces this simple, yet profound concept. We call on the members of the United States Senate to move quickly to repeal Obamacare and replace it with flexible block grants to the states.
The governors reminded McConnell in the letter that the “federal government did not create the states, the states created the federal government. They intended for the federal government to have limited powers and the rest be given to the states and — more importantly — to the people.”
The letter concluded, calling the block grants “the last, best hope to finally repeal and replace Obamacare — a program which is collapsing before our very eyes. We stand ready to work with you and the other members of the Senate, the Speaker and the other members of the House, and with the President and his administration to repeal Obamacare and replace it with something that works — in the states.”
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