Weekly addresses: GOP says Obamacare fails young people; White House looks ahead to 2014
(CNN) - House Republicans took aim at Obamacare in their weekly address, while in his own weekly address President Obama looked back on recent progress in Congress.
Rep. Aaron Schock, R-Illinois, in remarks released Saturday, delivered the Republicans’ address from Eureka College, in Eureka, Illinois. He condemned Obamacare as a “bad product” for young people while criticizing the administration for designing a publicity campaign that focuses on attracting millennials.
Meanwhile, Obama didn't mention health care in his address, also released Saturday morning from the White House, but described the progress he feels Congress is making in finding consensus when it comes to the budget and clearing the President's nominations for a number of key positions.
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House Republican address
According to Schock, Obamacare is a “ripoff” for young people because it shifts “the cost of older and sicker patients onto young people.”
“The state of Illinois is spending a million dollars just this week on television advertising to try and sell the health care law. This is on top of $684 million already being spent nationwide to promote it,” says Schock.
He says the aggressive campaign to enroll young people is a sales pitch for a law that should be scrapped.
“We should make it so that young people pay their fair share for health care, and nothing more. And instead of Washington telling us what to buy, let’s get back to letting every American choose the plan that's best for them and their family,” says Schock.
Schock also goes further than criticizing Obamacare, taking aim at the president’s credibility with a demographic that overwhelmingly supported him in both presidential elections.
“Young people helped put the president in office, and with this health care law, he’s pushing them into years of less choice, fewer opportunities, and larger bills.”
Schock argues that the best way government can help young people is by getting “out of the way.”
He advocates for a government that gives “young people the chance to build confidence, give them an incentive to work, and save, and invest, take risks, and rekindle that entrepreneurial spirit that sets this country apart.”
“Hard work and a good education will take you further than any government program,” says Schock.
White House address
President Obama praises the recent signs of compromise in Congress just before members got out of town for the holidays.
He praises the recent budget vote, saying that “it clears the path for critical investments in the things that grow our economy and strengthen our middle class, like education and research. And it will keep reducing our deficits at a time when we’ve seen four years of the fastest deficit reduction since the end of World War II.”
Obama also praises votes in Congress that clear the way for several nominees in different positions at the IRS, Department of Homeland Security and a federal judge.
The President sounds hopeful as he looks ahead to 2014, and puts a year that saw the longest federal government shutdown in history, behind him.
“So after a year of showdowns and obstruction that only held back our economy, we’ve been able to break the log jam a bit over the last few weeks. It’s a hopeful sign that we can end the cycle of short-sighted, crisis-driven decision-making and actually work together to get things done,” says Obama.
However, Obama also criticizes a lack of action from Congress on unemployment benefits, saying that it “is a lifeline that can make the difference between temporary hardship or lasting catastrophe. Instead of punishing these families, who can least afford it, especially now, Congress should first restore that lifeline immediately.”
Both address look ahead to next Wednesday, wishing a Merry Christmas to Americans around the country.
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Golly Gee,
Can you put Humpty Dumpty together again? So far it appears there is a lot of work to do. But first you gotta get em out of their pajamas! Don't you just love the Nanny State. 100 years of bliss already.
President Obama – Looking ahead without pretending that what had lies behind didn
President Obama – Looking ahead without pretending that what had lies behind didn't happened.
Rep. Aaron Schock, R-Illinois (speaking for the opposition) – Looking back through distorted lens so he can really pretend that he is offering a good analysis and without prejudice at all.
Tim sounds like you didn't know we had coverage for everybody already and you didn't have to pay for it I did because I work, food stamps were always here and the GOP never would or did try to eliminate it you bonehead , they were however the only ones who tried to stem the thieves from stealing from the gov. But the Dems wouldn't dare challenge the people who abuse it, It is more important to get there votes than instill a sence of pride in them. And that's what you and your liberal friends will never unstand . It's not the availability of these programs they've always been there, It's the conscious decision to be a slug or be productive. To use and abuse or crate a sence of self worth. I will pay whatever fines I'm stuck with. Instead of falling prey to your liberal way of thinking This socialist agenda. It's the law ! Is a power phrase who's only purpous is to Intimadate , The one thing this sorry shameless excuse for a President knows how to do
It is amazing how dependent people are on the government. When do people start taking care of themselves for a change? Wait, you need to have someone else pay your way cause you refuse to do for yourself.
The party of personal (not) responsibility. For years I thought that was just a slogan for their so-called GOP brand as they like to refer to themselves as if they were a product like cola or blue jeans. Everything about them is merely a shell of marketing and strategy there is no substance there at all. After all cola is nothing but sugar water and blue jeans are no longer made to last, or made in America.
Attacking voting rights of the ileagles. Yes the GOP does do that , and I can see how it would bother you , you would most likely have lost the election if they weren't blocked by the libs and Obama. Woman's rights, No Man or woman should ever tell a pregnant woman what's the right thing to do, my opinion! As far as veterans go your all wet, this Pres or excuse for one has been the most abusive towards vets since the end of ww1 when Mc Carther routed and killed some of our vets in the streets of Washington. I'm bet you think Alqida is just a few disgruntled Muslims and not a threat. The last thing I want is war and was against the Iraq war, Oil and arms dealers were the winners there, But they won't stop killing us, It won't stop. Jihad an all just like the Palestine s. How many people could this Pres. Feed with the 4 million he's charging you and me for his vacation
Rep. Schock says "We should make it so that young people pay their fair share for health care". How does he plan on doing that, by having the evil dictatorial government force young people to pay their fair share?
For over a hundred years, both republicans and democrats have been trying to come up with a way to make healthcare available to all Americans. After 1 million already have signed up for ACA, baggers still do not even know there was a problem for over 45 million uninsured people. When they begin to realize there is a problem, we may even see a republican admit to how important this legislation is.
Hundreds of millions of tax dollars WASTED trying to hawk a product nobody asked for, nobody wants and that has options people are not even physically capable of utilizing, but which costs 2-3 times more than what people had. No wonder they are having problems getting people to buy this steamy piece of dog poop, aka Obamacare.
And Obama and the Democrats have used and played the young people for fools. They have gotten shafted at every tunr by Obama and the Democrats and they are now just waking up to that fact as it is hitting them in their wallet. They go to college and then can't find a job because the job market stinks over 4 YEARS after the recession ended. Then Obama heaps $7 TRILLION (and climbing) in debt on their future, and now wants them to pay three times what they should for health insurance, just to pay for others.
Yes, the lies, deceit and con game of Obama and the Democrats is just about over when even the young ones have figured out they have been had by these thieves.
ThinkAgain
@rs: "The GOP lives in upside-down world where less health insurance for citizens is better (and I guess the resulting higher costs for all of us, the resulting death and bankruptcy). War is better than diplomacy; socialism is better for the rich and corporations than the poor; taking away people's rights to vote (or marry) is "freedom". They are delusional and clearly out of touch with the real world."
No, the GOP lives and breathes the dystopian world of the novel, "1984."
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Frightening indeed when you toss in the flavor of Ayn Rand as a topping!
Republicans warned young people and all others that Obamacare was a lousey bill.
Now, with a dubious website(the young are used to competance and speed, Democrats),
They are opting out in favor of less costly penalties. Not a Republican issue, Mr President-now in warm Hawaii, at a 6k villa
at taxpayer expense. Bush had Crawford, which he owned; Obama has a home in Chicago, which, like Detroit, he never visits.
So blaming Republicans, at his "get-away" news conference, before he fled to luxury
While the rest of US simmers on budgets, is
Hallmarks of a Lousey President.
Let Biden do it!
The really interesting thing about this whole picture is that every thing the Repubs have done, including lying their socks of....will come back and hurt their chances in any future elections because people are sick and tired of the constant Repub. arrogance!!....They haven't got a chance in the 2016 Presidential election the way the voters are seeing things now...We are sick of them and even their own party is complaining!!!!!
The GOP is no longer relevant to most Americans. Unfortunately, we are at the mercy of uneducated hicks in places like South Carolina and Louisiana who keep voting these jerks into office. The rest of the country suffers from it.
Boehner looks good in that picture. He must have had his morning triple vodka before his coffee.
Hey, Gurgyl, surely if the ACA is settled law, you have a problem with the administration simply deciding which parts of it to carry out and which parts of it to delay without authorization from Congress, right?
The sad thing is just how similar the Democrats and Republicans are on so many issues, and how so many voters are incapable of seeing it.
@Evergreen– thank you for your post. I am one of the older people that he referred to. I am not in bad health, exercise and grew up doing manual labor on a farm. Parents lived well into their 80's, grandmother lived to be 94 years. Not quite old enough for Medicare but my spouse and I pay $700.00 a month for a group health insurance plan. Have not had a child in school for 20 plus years but we pay for other children to attend, don't need parks, soccer fields or playgrounds but we pay for them too. It is morally wrong for republicans to pit one group against the other.
The GOP fails EVERYBODY from cradle to grave, except big oil and the teaparty idiots like Bachman , Rubio, Cruz, lee, king from Iowa and that teaparty dope Labrador and yaho from Florida who will be all kicked out in their next election, all sponging off the taxpayers while they accomplish NOTHING!!!!!!
INSURANCE itself, is a bad product... until you need to take advantage of it...
Wow, how can any defend Barry anymore??? Winner of the lie of the year. Actually 3 out of the top ten, how about not blaming everyone but the Pres who is in charge (kinda). Ill close gitmo etc etc, this cat has hurt the dems and libs and anyone with a brain knows this, and no im not gop supporter, I unlike most think for myself,
What is the GOP talking about. They failed the entire nation and its people. They did nothing in 2013 and continued to get paid. The working class could not do nothing, the Republicans would be screaming. The Republicans are our enemy.
And chairman Issa has been traveling the nation, wasting millions, trying to convince the people NOT to sign up for the health care program. ISSA also releases classified information given to him to the press. He is the RAT of the Republicans party. He is worst than Rep Dan Burton of IN.
After the GOP campaign (propaganda) to young people on campuses (with beer) to NOT sign up, of course they got what they wanted. Maybe it would have been better to HELP instead of sabotage.
smith
@Tampa & rs- So higher plan costs, higher ductibles, people losing coverage, a dismal rollout, and lying about the program to the american people are good things. I don`t thinks so.
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But you ignore- the more insured, the lower the cost for all, the more insured the less LOSS everyone has to take. Without the ACA we have to assume the same rate of increase we've seen for the past 20 years. Is it coincidence last year was the lowest rate of increase since Reagan?
We'll, Obama care has a long way to go before they catch up to the 24 BILLION dallars the GOP teaparty blew in 16 days AND GOT NOTHING for it. Cruz Rubio lee Labrador king of Iowa and radal of Florida , will be gone in their next election!!!!!!