Sad day for the Senate as Democrats try to distract from Obamacare

Senator Lee joined Sean Hannity to talk about the shift of power that occurred in the Senate as Democrats eliminated the filibuster for executive-level and court nominees.

"First of all, this is just a sad day for America. Really," said Senator on The Sean Hannity Show. "The rules that were broken today, the rules that were violated and shredded in a shameless power grab solely to distract the American people from Obamacare, those same rules were put in place to protect the people."

"The whole point of the Senate, from its very inception, and of these rules in particular, has been to protect the rights of minorities, with a deliberative consensus-building set of procedures within the Senate," he said. "It's not to get things done for the sake of getting things done. It's to require a substantial amount of consensus before a law can be passed, or in some cases, before someone can be confirmed. And Harry Reid took a very big step in the direction of dismantling that today, and it's very sad."

Senator Lee explained that Reid and Democrats eliminated the filibuster without reason, noting that the chamber has confirmed 99% of the President's nominees in 2013 alone.

"This is not a unique circumstance we're in now. We have been as deferential to President Obama as any Senate minority ever has been to a President of the opposing party," he said, adding that the move allows Democrats to confirm far-left judges to the D.C. Circuit Court, which could eventually review regulations related to Obamacare.

Reid's filibuster change is a shameless power grab

Senator Lee joined Rod Arquette on KNRS to discuss the President's press conference and the proposed "fix" for health plan cancellations caused by Obamacare. 

"This is the inevitable result of ignoring mounting evidence over the last two years that his law was harming people," Senator Lee told Arquette. "He told us that we could keep our plans, and he ignored the fact that people were losing their jobs, and they were having their wages cut and their hours slashed.

"He refused to act when we tried to defund the law in response to his own suggestion that the law wasn't ready. And now he's flailing, exercising authority that he doesn't have, violating the Constitution, and doing something to the insurance industry that he lacks both the constitutional power to do and also the physical power to do," he said. "He's acting too late. This isn't going to work."

Senator Lee explained that the President doesn't have the power under the Constitution to fix any law administratively. "There are only two ways he could have that power. One would be if the Affordable Care Act itself granted that power to him statutorily. And it does not," he explained. "The other would be if the constitution somehow gave the president, unilaterally, to amend the status without going to Congress. And it does not."

Senator Lee said that Congress should delay Obamacare for a year, noting that it's the "only reasonable thing to do" because of the problems the law has caused Americans and the chaos that it has now created in the insurance industry. 

"Right now, the proposals that we've got coming out of both ends of the capitol, to some extent, are designed to give cover to the politicians," said Senator Lee. "We need to give protection to the people, and to do that, I think we're going to have to suspend the law in its entirety for an entire year."

The President's Obamacare "fix" isn't going to work

Senator Lee joined talk show host Steve Deace about the need for conservatives to advance a positive policy reform agenda that promotes economic growth and preserves free enterprise and the free voluntary civil society.

“I think one of the things that we have to do is plan with a purpose when we try to translate those values into actual legislative proposals. One of the ways that I've done that is I've identified two core principles that I think we have to be always trying to protect as conservatives,” Senator Lee told Deace. “And the two core principles are preserving the free enterprise economy and second, preserving our voluntary civil society.”

“That's really what conservatism is,” he added.

Conservatives should plan reform agenda with purpose

Senator Lee talked with Sean Hannity about the tremendous outpouring of support he received last weekend from Utahns, including a 10-minute standing ovation, and games being played by the establishment to undermine grassroots conservatives in the state. 

Hannity also asked Senator Lee about the President ’s broken promise, that if Americans like their health plan, they can keep it under Obamacare.

“It's a lie that the president and his administration knew was a lie going back several years. People were lied to their detriment on the assurance that he gave them, that if you like your plan, you can keep your plan.If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. We know that isn't true,” Senator Lee told Hannity. 

Senator Lee explained that the lie is causing Americans to come together. They realize that this is no longer about Democrats against Republicans, he noted, but rather the Washington establishment against the American people. 

“The American people are standing up and saying don't do this, don't take over our healthcare system,” said Lee. “We ought to be in charge of it, not Washington bureaucrats.

The President knew he lied to Americans

Senator Lee joined Rod Arquette of KNRS to discuss the problems that have surfaced with Obamacare and the suffering the law is causing Americans. He also emphasized the need for conservatives to come together and craft a reform-driven agenda for the country.

Lee discusses Obamacare, crafting a conservative agenda

Senator Lee says that the problems that have surfaced with Obamacare in recent week underscore why the fight to defund the law was so important.

"We could see these problems coming, a lot of people losing their jobs, more people about to lose their health insurance," said Senator Lee in an interview on The Mike Gallagher Show. " And that's why we decided it was worth taking a stand."

As for the future of the law, Senator explained that Republicans must to continue trying to change Obamacare.

"We can't always be waiting in two and four year increments for upcoming elections. That is not to say that the outcomes we can achieve between now and the next two election cycles will necessarily be complete, because until after the 2016 elections happen, we've still got the current President," he said. "But I think more can be achieved after the 2014 election cycle, but some can be achieved now. We can do things now to help stop some of Obamacare's nastier side effects."

"I still think that the answer, both for Republicans and for Democrats at this point, ought to involve a one-year time out for this law. It would involve a categorical suspension of all the law's provisions for at least a year," he explained, adding that continuing to act is the right thing to do for the American people.

Mike Lee for Senate