Rick Scott: White House Funding Obamacare by Raiding Medicare

Gov. Rick Scott met with President Barack Obama at the White House on Monday and, after the meeting, released a statement on a host of issues. Scott focused on Obama using funds from Medicare to fund his signature federal health-care law, as well as flood insurance and the continuing political turmoil in Venezuela. The statement was as follows:

President Obama said he wants to use his pen and his phone this year so I brought three issues to him that are important to Florida families. First, if the president cares about our seniors he needs to fix Obamacare immediately. We learned last week that Medicare is being raided to pay for Obamacare which is hurting our seniors who could lose access to the doctors they liked and were told they could keep. We need to give our seniors a voice and ask the president directly to not pay for Obamacare by raiding Medicare. He has stopped and delayed other broken parts of the health care law. He should do the same with this.

We are also asking the president to stand with the people of Venezuela who are striving for freedom and liberty against the forces of tyranny. President Obama should immediately announce that the U.S. is considering sanctions against Venezuela as long as they keep limiting free speech. He should put sanctions on the table like freezing the bank accounts of Maduro and his gang and revoking the U.S. visas of anyone involved in attacking peaceful demonstrators. The president must show that the U.S. will stand up against oppression and support those yearning to be free. That is our duty and our calling as Americans.

Finally, President Obama needs to undo the devastating National Flood Insurance Program rate hikes on Florida families. For too long, Florida has been a donor state to the National Flood Insurance Program by contributing $16 billion over the last three decades, which is nearly four times the amount Florida homeowners have received back in claims. Families are being hurt by outrageous increases in their flood insurance rate, all because of a bad bill the president signed into law. He can have FEMA undo these for Florida until fair rates can be established. All the president needs is a pen and a phone to get it done.