WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) President Grover Norquist responded to Illinois House Republican Leader Tom Cross’s comments on pending Medicaid legislation’s expansion of Obamacare. Cross stated:

 “We remain hopeful that Obamacare will be declared unconstitutional in a month. It is a program that we cannot afford and have fought against the administration to set up some of the initial framework of the program including healthcare exchanges.”

Norquist’s response follows:

“It is difficult to find reassurance in Tom Cross’s ‘hopefulness’ that pending Obamacare expansion in Illinois will be dealt with in the future. What matters is how the legislature votes in the present. If they approve Pat Quinn’s phony Medicaid reform, Illinois legislators will expand government health care and raise hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes on the small business community.

“We have seen the perils of hope-based legislation for four years in Washington, D.C., and the results aren’t pretty. Illinois Republicans need to evaluate the legislation before them. It is not a $2.7 billion Medicaid reform package. It is a massive tax increase coupled with insufficient reductions in the state’s Medicaid liability. In fact it may expand that liability over time, as it provides for the early implementation of Obamacare mandates that were already set to cost the state $10 billion over the next decade.

“I urge the legislature to set this package aside and continue its work to reform and reduce Illinois’s Medicaid liability in good faith, rather than hoping for future action out of D.C.”

Americans for Tax Reform is a non-partisan coalition of taxpayers and taxpayer groups who oppose all tax increases.  For more information or to arrange an interview please contact John Kartch at (202) 785-0266 or by email at jkartch@atr.org.

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Posted by Joshua Culling on Tuesday, May 22, 2012 10:40 AM EDT

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