FreedomWorks Supports the Delay Until Fully Functional Act

Dear FreedomWorks member,

As one of our millions of FreedomWorks members nationwide, I urge you to contact your congressional representatives today and ask them to cosponsor and press for a floor vote on the ‘‘Delay Until Fully Functional Act of 2013.” Introduced by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Rep. Trey Radel (R-FL), this common-sense bill would codify the shocking idea that Americans shouldn’t be penalized for not buying a product they don’t want, at a price they can’t afford, from a government website they can’t access.

Under ObamaCare, if we don’t have government-approved health insurance after January 1st, 2014, the IRS will fine us. Yet Healthcare.gov, the online “marketplace” where people are supposed to go to get their mandatory insurance, is broken. It has basically been unusable since it opened for “business” on October 1st. Not just anyone could create a nonfunctional website for $634 million in three and a half years; incompetence that epic requires a government bureaucracy. And if you think the website is bad, wait till you see the premiums. Can you imagine what the actual health care is going to be like?

The Rubio-Radel bill would amend ObamaCare to delay the individual mandate and its enforcement penalty for as long as the government “marketplace” is being fixed, plus an additional six months following certification that it is fully functional as intended under the law. This certification must be made by two independent auditors, GAO and the HHS IG, both of whom report to Congress rather than the President.

A majority of Americans don’t want ObamaCare. Even unions don’t want the law. And now, some progressives and Democrats are openly calling for its delay. 

Americans should not be penalized for the Administration’s inability to produce a functioning website.  There’s also the issue of fairness. In July, President Obama unilaterally delayed the mandate on large employers for a full year.  The mandate on individuals should be delayed at least as long. The Rubio-Radel bill is a sensible first step to fairness in the implementation of this unfair, unpopular, unaffordable, unnecessary, and unworkable law.

I urge you to call your congressional representatives today and ask them to cosponsor and press for a floor vote on the Rubio-Radel ‘‘Delay Until Fully Functional Act of 2013.”

Sincerely, 

Matt Kibbe

President and CEO 

FreedomWorks

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