Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker will formally release his plan to repeal and replace Obamacare on Tuesday in Minnesota. Walker has titled his proposal the “Day One Patient Freedom Plan,” according to his prepared remarks that his campaign shared with reporters.
“Let me be perfectly clear: Americans want more than campaign promises, they want results. Actions speak louder than words. I get it,” Walker will say, according to his campaign. “On my first day as President, I will send legislation to the Congress that will repeal Obamacare entirely and replace it in a way that puts patients and their families back in charge of their health care — not the federal government. I call it the Day One Patient Freedom Plan.”
Walker will reiterate his willingness to quarrel with Republicans if he deems it necessary to pass lasting healthcare reform.
“Republican leaders in Washington told us during the campaign last year that we needed a Republican Senate to repeal Obamacare. Well, Republicans have been in charge of both houses of Congress since January and there still isn’t a bill on the president’s desk to repeal Obamacare,” Walker will say. “If our innovative reforms can work in a blue state like Wisconsin, they can work for America. And just like I did in my own state, I am willing to take on anyone — including members of my own party — to get the job done.”
“Talk is cheap. We fight. We win. We get results. Which is probably why we won three elections in four years — in a state that hasn’t gone Republican for President since 1984.”
Walker expressed his anger at the Republican Party while on the campaign trail in Iowa on Monday. He appeared on Glenn Beck’s radio show on Monday morning and said, “I’m angry at the so-called leaders in Washington particularly in the Republican Party who claimed they were going to repeal Obamacare if they got the Senate majority, who claimed they were going to do something about illegal immigration.”
Perhaps hoping to steal some of Walker’s thunder, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio published an op-ed on Monday titled “My Plan to Fix Healthcare” that his press team blasted out hours before Walker’s expected rollout. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal’s campaign also took notice of Walker’s plan, and his campaign sent multiple emails telling reporters that Walker would be the second presidential candidate to release a plan to repeal and replace Obamacare — because Jindal did it first.
Once Walker makes his plan public on Tuesday the debate about how the GOP should best counter Obamacare will only continue. Walker remains in front of Rubio and Jindal in the polls, according to RealClearPolitics average of polls, but has lost some of his footing since the first GOP presidential debate. He has since adopted a much more aggressive tone and appears to have focused on a new obstacle to the conservative reforms he hopes to accomplish: Republican obstructionism in Washington, D.C.
“If you’ve had it with Obamacare and you want someone who is going to do something about it, I am your candidate,” Walker will say on Tuesday. “Four years ago, I took on 100,000 protesters, I took on the big government union bosses, I took on the liberal power machine from Washington and — yes — I took on the establishment of my own party to push big, bold reforms. And you know what, we got results.”
