Cole Responds to President's 'Apology'

Norman, OK - Congressman Tom Cole (OK-04) released the following statement after President Obama appeared on NBC News with Chuck Todd. During the Thursday night interview, the president discussed the roll-out of the Affordable Care Act and responded to the millions of Americans whose healthcare plans have been cancelled even though he had previously claimed numerous times before and after the law was passed that "if you like your healthcare plan, you can keep it."

"The president's 'apology' for misleading the American people about the consequences of Obamacare is too little, too late and too disingenuous to accept," said Cole. "He promised the American people that his plan would save families of four at least $2,500 on their healthcare plans. Now families are expecting higher costs or losing plans that were already satisfactory.

"We heard the president ensure the American people that Obamacare would be ready to go on October 1st. It wasn't. In fact, enrollment numbers are still so low after a month and a half that the Administration is scrambling to fix a broken product.

"The president also declared that if Americans liked their healthcare plans, they could keep them. We now know millions of them cannot. Given that track record, why should Americans believe the President on Obamacare now? They cannot, they should not and they will not.

"Obamacare has always been a failure, and if it is allowed to stay in place without modification, things will only get worse rather than better in the coming year. Republicans warned the president that his law wasn't ready for primetime, and they tried to prevent, modify or, at the very least, delay Obamacare. But he resisted these efforts, he dismissed our concerns and demonized us every step of the way. Now he is reaping the consequences of his own policies. Sadly, so are the American people.

"We must find real solutions, and until we are certain that the law can actually work, we should delay further implementation of Obamacare. Until then, the law will continue to be a disaster sold to the American people on a foundation of false promises and faulty policies.

"Saying 'sorry' isn't enough. Now the president must work with both sides of the aisle to fix the failure of Obamacare," concluded Cole.

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Contact: Sarah Corley (202) 225 - 6165