Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) urged Americans to melt the phone lines into Congress on Monday morning, during an exclusive interview on Breitbart News Saturday on SiriusXM Patriot Channel 125 on Saturday. Graham called on everyone concerned about repealing Obamacare to call their senators and representatives and “insist that we have the vote.”
The new legislation seeks to repeal Obamacare’s individual and employer mandate, abolish many of Obamacare’s taxes, and deliver health care to the states so that governors and states houses can design more affordable health care systems to the Affordable Care Act. Graham told Breitbart News Daily that almost 20 Republican governors support the legislation. House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows told Breibtart News that the plan has “real merit.” House Speaker Paul Ryan and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy have signaled support for the Obamacare repeal bill.
“This is Bernie Sanders’ worst nightmare,” Graham said to open the interview. He continued:
So let’s start with that idea. It’s either this or we’re going to Obamacare and Bernie-Care. Now, Bernie-Care is full-blown single-payer socialism. It is his dream and that’s where Democrats are going. We’ve been stumbling around trying to repeal and replace Obamacare. The McConnell approach was better than Obamacare but it wasn’t transformational. Let’s get back to the basics of being conservative. We take the money that we would spend on Obamacare in Washington, and we block grant it to the states. There are four states under Obamacare that get 40 percent of the money: New York, California, Massachusetts, and Maryland. They get 40 percent of the money, and they’re 20 percent of the population. So we repeal the employer mandate, which is going to kick in in October and destroy job creation. We repeal the individual mandate, we repeal the medical device tax, we take the other revenue streams from Obamacare taxes and we block grant it to the states. By 2026, every patient in every state regardless of where you live will get the same basic contribution from the federal government. We achieve parity. No longer will four blue states get 40 percent of the money. A state like Mississippi, they get a 900 percent increase. South Carolina gets 300 percent. So the goal is to get the money and the power out of Washington. This is not about repealing and replacing Obamacare. This is about stopping a march towards socialism. At the end of the day, Matt, this is the last best chance we will have to act and end Obamacare and stop Bernie-Care.
Many GOP governors nationwide are on board with the legislation, with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker–the chairman of the Republican Governors Association (RGA)–leading the charge. Walker announced his support of the legislation in an exclusive interview with Breitbart News recently.
“We’re approaching 20 [governors], we’re approaching 20,” Graham said, before continuing:
Let’s just get to the heart of the matter: If you’re not for this, then you really got to wonder whether or not you’re a Republican because the Republican philosophy is the government closest to the people is the best government. Under Obamacare, if you don’t like your healthcare, who do you complain to? You can complain to me in South Carolina, but I don’t run Obamacare. It’s some damn bureaucrat that you will never meet who could care less about you. Under this approach, when the money comes back to the states with as much flexibility as possible, you can complain to your statehouse representative who probably goes to the same hospital as you do. You can complain to your governor, and they will care what you think because you can vote for them. It gives the consumer, the patient, a voice–and instead of one way to deliver healthcare, you’ll have 50 ways. If California wants to go down the single-payer road, knock yourself out. South Carolina is not going down that road. California can’t take you with them. Under this approach, innovation–Mike Pence has been so awesome. He was the governor of Indiana. With a little flexibility, he transformed Medicaid. Scott Walker was the intellectual godfather of this idea. You talked about the governor of Utah, the governor of Mississippi, Asa Hutchison [in Arkansas]. We’ve had some real stars on the Republican side step up and say, ‘give me this money. Give me the flexibility, and I will do a hell of a lot better for you than Obamacare did for you.’
Leftists and progressive organizers are terrified at how quickly Graham’s and Cassidy’s legislation has been moving on Capitol Hill, gaining support everywhere. MoveOn.Org and other leftists have signaled their alarm at this free market plan via social media. Graham is pleased that the left is worried.
“Good, that tells you something about this idea–if they weren’t freaked out, I’d be worried,” Graham said, adding a moment later when asked about the reactions from the George Soros funded leftists : “They’re going nuts. They’re going absolutely crazy.”
The average person needs to understand, here’s the choice for America: Do you want to consolidate all healthcare decisions in Washington, D.C., and have all the power and money flow through Washington? Do you want to give all the federal politicians and federal bureaucrats complete control of healthcare in America?” Graham continued. “That’s called Bernie-care. That’s where we’re headed. Most people, I think, would like federalism. Why not send the money back to my state and give my governor and my statehouse with my input a chance to design a system that’s better for me? And if I don’t like what I’m getting, at least I can complain to somebody who will listen to me because I vote for them. This is the liberals’ worst nightmare, to empower people at the state level, not the national level. And it’s the last best chance.
Graham then revealed that President Donald Trump and Vice President Pence have reached out to governors to get them to back Obamacare repeal, and that they are working the phones to try to secure support for this bill getting across the finish line.
Let me tell you something about President Trump,” Graham said. “I just got off the phone with the vice president. Mariano Rivera is the best closer in the history of baseball. Number 45 is coming into the ninth inning. Donald Trump wears 45. He’s the 45th president. He’s on the phone as I speak getting governors who are a little nervous about this, saying we’re not going to let you fail, we’re going to give you the flexibility over time and we’re going to empower you unlike anything you’ve ever seen, if you’re afraid of the responsibility get out of your job. The vice president has been awesome. Mitch McConnell and the House leadership has told CBO [the Congressional Budget Office] to get me a score. I talked to the director of the Congressional Budget Office, I got to get this bill scored. We got 15 days left to do this. We are two votes short. My good friend John McCain likes federalism. He is very friendly to the concept. I got to convince people in Arizona at the state level that federalism is better than Obamacare. We got a good governor in Arizona. We can never match Obamacare’s spending because it’s unsustainable. Again, the employer mandate kicks in in October. This stops that, if it comes into being in October you’re going to lose jobs all over the country. We’re one or two votes short. I want everyone who cares about this to call on Monday 202-224-3121. 202-224-3121. That is the Capitol Hill switchboard. Insist that we have the vote. We have time to do this. We need to get our act in order as conservatives. And Donald Trump and Mike Pence are working the phones as we speak. But we need you and we need your voice.
Graham added that House Freedom Caucus chairman Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC), who also backs the bill, has been “awesome” on this and that this unites divided factions within the GOP.
To your audience, I don’t always agree with you–and you don’t always agree with me,” Graham told Boyle. “But I’m a Republican. I’m a conservative. I really do believe in the 10th Amendment. This is the best idea. We kind of–Winston Churchill said Americans always do the right thing after they run out of everything else to do. Well, we should have started with this. We should have been in session in August. We should have been working on this for weeks. But we are where we are. And we’re just very, very close. And if we pull this off, if we are able to replace Obamacare with federalism, then you have changed the trajectory of where the country is headed. It’s the end of single-payer healthcare. Because, Matt, once the money gets out of Washington, it’s never coming back. But if we fail, then Donald Trump is not going to continue these Obamacare payments. I’m not going to vote to prop up a system throwing good money after bad. This is the last best chance to stop the employer mandate, and get the money and power out of Washington back to the states in the hands of governors who can be creative. Here’s what will happen. Some governors will figure this out. And other governors will begin to follow their lead.
If this succeeds, there will be 50 separate laboratories–one in each of the states–for governors to develop the best possible healthcare systems. “There’s no innovation in Washington,” Graham said. “They’re just worried about growing the bureaucracy because that’s called job security. But, number 45, Donald Trump, is on the phone. He’s the Mariano Rivera of presidents. He’s going to come in and close the deal with some of these governors who are showing reluctance. To everybody out there, from Arizona, this is the last best chance you will have to take the power out of Washington and put it in Arizona–to get out from under the yolk of Obamacare. To everybody that’s listening to me, it’s not about what we disagree about today, it’s about what we agree about. If you are serious about repealing Obamacare, this is your last best chance.”
Graham concluded by calling for Americans who want Obamacare gone to show more passion for this outcome than the left showed when they pushed Obamacare through in the dead of night.
“I want to end on this: Harry Reid made us vote on Christmas Eve to pass Obamacare,” Graham said. “Barack Obama moved heaven and earth to pass Obamacare. We have got to be as committed to repealing Obamacare as they were to passing it. We have got to show the same passion for federalism as they show for single-payer healthcare and Washington-centric solutions for every problem in your life. They would do anything to get their agenda, and they did. They voted on Christmas Eve. The question for our generation is: Did we do everything we could as hard as we could to the very end to fight for our values? We got 14 days left. 202-224-3121. Call the Congress and say: ‘We want a vote.'”
LISTEN TO SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC) ON BREITBART NEWS SATURDAY: