Alabama Representative Mo Brooks is pushing back against his “big government” colleagues who he says are slowing the effort to fully repeal Obamacare.
During an interview with Fox News’s Neal Cavuto on Tuesday, Brooks, a member of the House Freedom Caucus, told the host that he was unsure of the status of an Obamacare repeal. He believes some of his fellow Republicans are working against conservatives who want to see it happen.
“W e’ve got some big government Republicans who don’t really want to repeal Obamacare, they may want to couch it that way, but basically what they want is Obamacare light,” Rep. Brooks said. “Those of us who are conservatives and want to repeal Obamacare, we feel that we’re being held back by people in positions of power.”
Though many members of the GOP on Capitol Hill have begun discussing “alternatives” to repealing the Affordable Care Act, Brooks says that the healthcare mandate must be fully eliminated. According to him, it was a winning campaign platform that Republicans should refuse to backtrack on.
“I’m going to urge the Speaker of the House to let us have that vote for a repeal of Obamacare, because that’s what we promised the American people and that’s also what is best for the American people,” he said. “Then if you want to have some kind of a replacement, that’s fine, but bear in mind that what we have as a replacement is the world’s best healthcare system that we had in 2009 and 2010, that Obamacare has over time done so much damage to.”
Rather than replace Obamacare with a new federal solution, the Alabama Congressman proposed that states be given more control over their healthcare options.
“If New York or Massachusetts or California want Obamacare, their legislatures can pass it and they can pay for it themselves,” Brooks said. “States like mine, Alabama, that don’t want Obamacare and still believe in individual freedom and liberty. We can choose not to have Obamacare, and not have our industries, our employers, and our people burdened with the high cost associated with that failed program.”
