Congressman Mike Pence

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Congressman Mike Pence supports H.R. 1173, the Fiscal Responsibility and Retirement Security Act of 2011. He submitted the following remarks into the record of the U.S. House of Representatives today:

M. Speaker,

I rise today in strong support of H.R. 1173, the Fiscal Responsibility and Retirement Security Act of 2011, offered by Rep. Boustany of Louisiana. This bill will repeal the CLASS Act created under ObamaCare.

The CLASS Act would have created a new government-run long-term care insurance program. Recently, the Obama administration abandoned the CLASS Act after admitting that its benefit structure would be, in the words of HHS Secretary Sebelius, "totally unsustainable."

In many ways, the CLASS Act sums up ObamaCare as a whole: a massive new entitlement scheme paid for through budget gimmicks. The end result, of course, is more government and less freedom.

The House of Representatives has taken the right steps to fully repeal ObamaCare as well as taking steps to defund it. We cannot rest until we repeal this government takeover of health care lock, stock and barrel. Repealing the CLASS Act today is a good first step toward removing ObamaCare completely from the books, once and for all.

Once ObamaCare is finally put in its proper place, we stand ready to enact truly sustainable health care legislation that reduces costs, promotes personal responsibility, and increases choices available to Americans.

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