WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell made the following remarks on the Senate floor regarding Obamacare and the Obama economy:

“Earlier this week, we passed the five-year mark since the financial crisis hit our country.
 
“Incredibly, President Obama tried to use that opportunity to take credit for the fact that things aren’t as bad as they were back then. He’s back at it again today.

“Basically, his message is this: America isn’t in a free fall, so everyone should give him a big pat on the back.
 
“Well, as far as deflections go, it’s pretty creative. But it’s also pretty misleading. Because in an effort to justify his own failed policies, and preserve them, the President is papering over some pretty troubling realities.

“The truth is, for most Americans, the past few years have felt like anything but a recovery. It’s been a story of lost jobs and underemployment, and the loss of dignity that comes with both. It’s been a period of stagnant wages, and an increasing disparity between rich and poor. And then there are all the young people who’ve been stunned to realize, after graduating from college, that there just aren’t any jobs out there.
 
“So now is not the time for victory laps. Because if this is his idea of success, I’d hate to see what failure looks like. Today, nearly 8 million Americans who want full-time jobs can only find part-time work. That’s nearly twice as many involuntary part-timers as we had throughout most of the previous administration. And, of course, Obamacare will make this much worse. What’s more, the poor and the middle income folks and those just starting out on their own are some of the people who’ve been struggling most in the Obama economy. The unemployment rate for low-income Americans, for instance, now stands at 21% — right about where it was during the Great Depression.

“The President likes to claim credit for jobs that have been created since the so-called recovery began. But what he fails to mention is that there are still fewer jobs today than before the crisis hit, while real median wages haven’t gone up at all over the past five years. And even though candidate Obama promised to ‘spread the wealth around,’ we find that 95 percent of recent income gains have actually gone to the richest among us.
 
“In other words, we’re again faced with the tragic irony that those on the Left who claim most loudly to be standing up for fairness and equality often end up getting the worst results for those who need help most. To paraphrase President Reagan’s old line about the apostles of quote-unquote ‘fairness’, maybe they are fair in one way: their policies don’t discriminate; they bring misery to everybody — unless of course you’re among the elite of the elite.

“And we all know why that is: because when government policies hurt economic growth by stifling opportunities and drying up investment, it’s the American worker who loses. It’s those at the bottom of the economic ladder who suffer the most. So the best thing we can do to help the poor and working classes is to get the private sector growing again. And we know how it’s done: by implementing things like a more competitive tax code, regulatory relief, approval of the Keystone pipeline, and repealing Obamacare, which is killing jobs.
 
“The fact is, the policies many of today’s Washington Democrats favor tend to actually entrench unfairness, and make the playing field even more uneven.
 
“Even the President’s allies are beginning to understand. Big Labor wants to rewrite some provisions of the same Obamacare law they helped muscle through. Why? Because predictably, Obamacare is now hurting the 40-hour work week and undermining the kind of employer-sponsored plans their members like and want to keep.

“And union bosses also know that the President recently agreed to delay parts of the law for businesses. Now they want relief, too.

“But what about everyone else? What about the middle class? What about college graduates, or young couples trying to make ends meet while they start a family? Don’t these folks deserve some relief from Obamacare?
 
“That’s why I filed an amendment last week that would allow everyone else to take advantage of the Obamacare delay already offered to businesses. If companies get to catch a break, then Republicans think the middle class should too. And the Democrats who run Washington need to stop blocking us from even taking a vote on this important legislation — legislation that already passed the House of Representatives on a bipartisan basis.
 
“After all, as I’ve already indicated, Obamacare is a big reason we’re turning into a nation of part-time workers — and that so many Americans will lose their jobs and the health care plans they like. It’s also one of the reasons that the rate of those either working or looking for work has dropped back to Carter-era levels. And that the average time it takes to find a job is longer than it’s been in decades.
 
“These are all good reasons not just to delay but to repeal this law and start over with bipartisan reforms that can actually reduce costs instead of killing jobs. And I have confidence we’ll get there eventually. Because the only person who seems happy with Obamacare is the guy it’s named after. And maybe that’s why. Because when everyone from union bosses to working moms want to repeal this thing, it’s hard to escape the conclusion that the people standing in the way are more interested in what’s good for their legacies than what’s good for the country.
 
“But I’m still holding out hope. I really hope the President will take this five-year anniversary of the financial crisis as a chance to reflect, and to change course. I hope he’ll finally admit that what he’s tried thus far just hasn’t worked. That it’s not enough to just improve the lot of those who have influence in government – that you have to work for the middle class too. I hope he starts working with members of both parties to start over on health care, to put our economy on a sound and sustainable footing, to get spending under control so we don’t leave the same kind of mess to our children – as CBO warned us about yesterday.
 
“Most importantly, I’m hoping he starts thinking of ways to give those who are struggling in this economy a real chance to succeed. And when he does, Republicans will be here. Ready to work with him. Just as we have since he first came to office.”