Karen Langley
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Arguments over the federal health care law have concluded at the Supreme Court, but Republicans want you to remember they still really and truly oppose the law.
So the chairman of the Republican National Committee, Reince Priebus, traveled to Harrisburg today to speak against the overhaul. He was joined by Senate candidate Steve Welch, the GOP-endorsed candidate who must defeat four other Republicans, GOP National Committeewoman Christine Toretti and Gene Barr, president and CEO of the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry.
Both Priebus and Welch reminded listeners that “Obamacare,” as they put it, recently had its second anniversary, and Welch noted the challenge to the law’s constitutionality — evidence, he said, against U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, the Democrat he hopes to replace.
“These grim events are a reminder that President Obama and Bob Casey have hurt our health care system and hurt our economy,” Welch said.
Asked about one of the questions before the high court, Priebus said he doesn’t see how the requirement that people carry insurance can be separated from the rest of the law, though he said lawmakers could join together on aspects of the law that both parties support.
“What you’re seeing though, here in the Supreme Court, is an affirmation that this president and his policies are not squaring with the concepts and ideas that have been laid out in the Bill of Rights and James Madison and America,” he said. “This will be a referendum on liberty, freedom, the Constitution and how big Obama world is going to get.”
In concert with the visit, the RNC released a TV ad in Harrisburg attacking the cost of the law.