At a meeting Friday in Lake Charles, Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu (D-New Orleans) reiterated her commitment to the Affordable Care Act,also known as ObamaCare.
“If I had to vote for the bill again, I would vote for it
tomorrow,” Landrieu told attendees of the Legis-Gator lunch, sponsored by the
Southwest Louisiana Chamber of Commerce.
“People are scared when they’re sick, and they’re much
stronger when they’re well,” said Landrieu stating the obvious. “It’s embarrassing
to me to go to places like France and Spain…and their workers all manage to
have health insurance that can’t be taken away.”
The Senator did not mention that workers in France and Spain
also receive almost as much vacation time as U.S. Senators and members of
Congress.
“When people ask me what kind of health care people need, I
think they need something they can afford,” Landrieu said again dodging any
specifics.
Landrieu also noted that Louisiana has “more working people
that are poor” than any other state.
Landrieu also said that ObamaCare was “not a government
takeover”.
The House has voted 40 times to defund ObamaCare. At a town hall meeting last week, Senator David Vitter (R-Metairie) said that he would support a government shutdown if any spending bill included funding for ObamaCare.
Several Republican Congressmen, along with Senators Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Mike Lee (R-UT), Rand Paul (R-KY) and Vitter, have signed a pledge to support a House Continuing Resolution (C.R.) that would fund all government programs except ObamaCare.
The two current Republican challengers to Landrieu's seat have expressed different positions regarding the House Continuing Resolution.
Congressman Bill Cassidy (Baton Rouge) has said that, while he supports defunding ObamaCare, he's "deliberative" about the Continuing Resolution and has not signed onto the pledge.
Rob Maness (Madisonville) has signed the pledge and supports the effort.
"I support the effort to defund the ACA through the upcoming budget debate and have signed the Senate Conservatives Fund Pledge, just as Senators Vitter, Cruz, Lee, and Paul have, along with other conservative Senate Candidates," Maness said in an email. "This effort, as explained by Sen Cruz, is to get the House to pass a Continuing Resolution that funds everything in the government but the ACA to be taken up by the Senate."
The House has voted 40 times to defund ObamaCare. At a town hall meeting last week, Senator David Vitter (R-Metairie) said that he would support a government shutdown if any spending bill included funding for ObamaCare.
Several Republican Congressmen, along with Senators Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Mike Lee (R-UT), Rand Paul (R-KY) and Vitter, have signed a pledge to support a House Continuing Resolution (C.R.) that would fund all government programs except ObamaCare.
The two current Republican challengers to Landrieu's seat have expressed different positions regarding the House Continuing Resolution.
Congressman Bill Cassidy (Baton Rouge) has said that, while he supports defunding ObamaCare, he's "deliberative" about the Continuing Resolution and has not signed onto the pledge.
Rob Maness (Madisonville) has signed the pledge and supports the effort.
"I support the effort to defund the ACA through the upcoming budget debate and have signed the Senate Conservatives Fund Pledge, just as Senators Vitter, Cruz, Lee, and Paul have, along with other conservative Senate Candidates," Maness said in an email. "This effort, as explained by Sen Cruz, is to get the House to pass a Continuing Resolution that funds everything in the government but the ACA to be taken up by the Senate."
For her part, Senator Landrieu is opposed to any effort to defund ObamaCare and the Republican's "pledge".
“The people of Louisiana and the country are generally just fed up with gamesmanship and gimmicks and they want us to roll up our sleeves, compromise and find a way to help the private sector create jobs,” Landrieu, said. “I understand the theatrics that are going on, but theatrics don’t put food on the table. It's (the Affordable Care Act) been upheld by the Supreme Court. It's time to move on."
Almost 800,000 Louisiana residents are uninsured and would be eligible to enter the health care marketplace under ObamaCare.
Senator Landrieu also discussed the need for more funding
for higher education and technical schools.
In other Landrieu news, on Thursday The New York Daily News yook the National
Republican Senatorial Campaign to task for a misguided internet ad that was
filled with duck hunting references (an obvious homage to the reality TV show “Duck
Dynasty”) and was critical of Senator Landrieu.
The clip shows several ducks flying and they are labeled “ObamaCare”,
“Energy”, “Taxes” and “Jobs” it says that “Mary Landrieu’s got bad aim” and
that “she keeps firing and missing”.
The clip closes by saying “It’s time for Mary to start
shooting straight with Louisiana and stop masquerading as someone she’s not.”
