Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) was determined to repeal Obamacare before the Supreme Court handed down its ruling yesterday. Now he’s confident he will have a motivated army working alongside him.
“All of us had hoped and maybe been teased into the thought that maybe the Supreme Court would come in and make this work a little bit easier,” DeMint told a standing-room only crowd at Heritage yesterday. “They haven’t done that, but they have reminded us that this job is in our hands and the hands of the people.”
DeMint’s speech, which Heritage excerpted for this short video, came just two hours after the ruling shocked and disappointed many conservatives. After all, tea-party activists swept a group of freshmen lawmakers into the halls of Congress last year and their vote to repeal Obamacare was a major triumph. Equally disappointing for many was the court’s decision.
“We all knew when Obamacare passed that the urgent priority had to be the repeal of that bill and the replacing of the people who imposed it on the American people. That is still the priority today,” DeMint said at Heritage.
He continued: “I come today disappointed that the court didn’t make it easier, but not at all discouraged. Because it’s our job to fix this thing and it gives America, I think, a much more compelling reason to get engaged.”
There are already indications that the American people are responding to that call for action. Fundraising appeals filled the coffers of conservative organizations, including Heritage, and political campaigns.
“The Supreme Court may have said we can keep it,” DeMint added. “But the American people must stand up and say it is bad policy, it’s bad law, it’s bad for our economy and it’s bad for the American people. And most of all, it’s bad for health care.”
The video was produced by Alex Anderson, a member of the Young Leaders Program at The Heritage Foundation.
