>> i'm not here to give everyone my limited knowledge of constitutional law. i am here to say that the law has been upheld. it's good for the country. it's good for my people in nevada. it's something that now we can look at. i don't have to worry about a child that's born with a cleft pala palate. i don't have to worry about a child who shortly after birth develops diabetes or as the kids that came to see me today have cystic fibrosis. i don't have to worry about them anymore and very, very soon, all adults, not just those that are under age 18 will be entitled to insurance even though they have a pre-existing disability. the people that can stay on their parents' insurance policy, 6 million or 7 million of them are benefitting from this law. millions of senior citizens have

a doughnut hole because of the health care law. millions of the senior citizens can get wellness checks so i'm not here to give you all a dissertation on constitutional law, the law has been upheld and i'm very happy it has been. [ inaudible question ] >> yes, they should be spending that time focusing on jobs. we have millions of people who are underemployed or unemployed. that's why we're here today, telling each of you that weir focusing continually on job creation and we need the republicans to join with us. america needs economic help and just like the small business, we

will vote on the week we get back. employers around america want that to happen. they want that to happen. it's good for all of us. a tax credit and they increase the payrolls a little bit. not only that, buy new equipment and they can write it off now and not over the years. to answer your question, is it wasting their time? they should be spending it on jobs. [ inaudible question ] >> at one time in my life i was really good with a yo-yo, and governor romney must be really good at a yo-yo because we never know where he stands from. one time he's up. one time he's down. so as we've seen with governor

romney, one thing that's consistent about him is inconsistency. pardon me? [ inaudible question ] we passed a law and you can't repeal it by an executive order. we are here to talk about jobs and not about romney's inconsistency. [ inaudible question ] >> all the more reason that the american people should understand we want to focus on jobs and not taking away benefits that millions have to date are sure. including they repealed this, it's a loss of 400,000 jobs and

not 4,000, not 40,000, 400,000 jobs and we are here on saving those 400,000 jobs. [ inaudible question ] >> senate democrats just outside the senate chamber in the ohio corridor reacting to the ruling today. the supreme court's 5-4 decision, largely upholding the 2010 health care law. a number of congressional members reacting both on capitol hill and in front of the supreme court. we covered a good deal of that and continue to do so and we can find lots of that on our website at c-span.org. all of today's video, our social media stream where you can keep track of what's being said on twitter by members of congress and reporters and viewers, as well, all of that at c-span.org. one of the pieces of video that

you will find on there is the house tea party caucus and led by the caucus leader michele bachmann. this is a portion of their comments from earlier today in the court. >> other members are on their way? okay. thank you all for coming. my name is michele bachmann. i'm a member of congress and i am proud to represent the 6th congressional district of minnesota. i was just seated in the supreme court chamber as i heard the decision come down. we had a brief reaction before. we've invited members of the tea party caucus to come and others are making their way over from the capital and we'll begin with the very first reaction of sandy adams. would you introduce yourself and your district? >> hi. i'm sandy adams from florida's 24th district in the florida area and while i'm very disappointed it just makes me more resolved to continue the fight to repeal -- repeal this

legislation. this has done nothing more than raise the health care costs between government between you and your doctors and it is impeding our businesses from hiring people. this legislation must be repealed and i am committed to doing just that! >> good morning. my name is jeff landry. i represent louisiana's third congressional district, and i can echo it. i am proud to be here with representatives michele bachmann and sandy adams and steve school ease. i will tell you that at the end of the day our founders rely on one group to solve our problems. it wasn't the supreme court. it was we, the people, and the people -- it's time for the people to speak up and demand that congress repeal this law, limit the federal government and solve the problems that have been ailing this country over the last 30 years. so my commitment to you and to

the people is that i will continue this fight and ensure that we repeal this damaging legislation that now knows no limit to the federal government's power. thank you. >> thank you very much. i'm blake from texas, and i think jeff had it exactly right. the final check on the power of the government is the people. if you object to this law, if you object to the continuing overreach of the federal government as we take more and more of your money away, as we take more and more of your rights away, it is up to you to elect the people to put a stop to it. people like the representatives you have here. people all throughout this country that have less taxes and more freedom. our quorum is ultimately the ballot box. it is up to each and every one of you in november to go out, exercise your right to vote and

say no to laws like this takeover of health care, this invasion of the occupation relationship and this new tax that has been mysteriously created by the supreme court. thank you very much. >> mr. congressman, steve scolese from the first district. i am disappointed in the supreme court's decision today. one thing is that the individual mandate was not unconstitutional under the commerce clause and they limited congress' ability there and they allowed it to stand under the tax laws and one thing that the supreme court did confirm today is that president obama broke his word to the american people because consistently for years now he has said that this was not a tax. the supreme court today confirmed the fact that there is a tax, a massive tax increase on american families and middle-class families on the american people. president obama said he wouldn't tax so it confirms that.

i'm more resolved than ever to go to work to repeal this entire law program i'm on the commerce committee and we'll be having hearings starting this week to repeal this law to fix the things that are broken and remember, obama care promised to lower health care costs. it's been confirmed to increase health care costs. it's actually made problems worse. we need to fix the problems in health care to lower costs to increase access and obama care made that worse. and the final thing i'll say is, look, the u.s. supreme court had their say here on the last thursday in june. the american people will have their say on the first tuesday in november and that -- >> thank you. i'm congressman john mica from florida. you know, it's been said the power to tax is the power to destroy and today a lot of

destruction was done by this discussion. i'm concerned about two things and first the impact on our senior citizens. this is probably the most devastating blow to american senior citizens who will have a half a trillion dollars cut from medicaid, medicare and they will also limit the choices of our senior seniors, both for care and their choices as far as freedom in this country which individual freedom is being destroyed for seniors and also for citizens under this decision. the second thing, as a business person, this is death mill for businesses in this country. small business has been reeling from just the thought of this going into effect. today's decision will do more to hurt our economy than anything

we can do in washington, in the statehouses or across this country. so this is a bad day for business. it's a bad day for our senior citizens and it's a bad day for america and congress needs to repeal this now! >> i want to thank the members who are just a small sample of the tea party caucus in congress and they're all engaged in many things and they're all reacting to this unprecedented decision, but there are just a few things that we want to say. as a result of the president's trillion dollar stimulus program and as a result of obama care, all across the united states spontaneous spontaneously, you saw americans attending some for the first time, town hall meetings of their members of congress and that was in 2009 and they stood up and they held their member of

congress and their senator accountable for what happened for obama care. the people were not happy and we saw a revolt happen in 2010 where the american people did come to the ballot box and we saw nancy pelosi lose the gavel to her hand as a direct result -- and because of that we saw a new majority in congress that did pass the repeal of obama care. the members of the tea party caucus and the other members of the tea party caucus did vote to repeal obama care. you see, we have the job one-third done and now we have to complete the job in the senate and also in the white house. it's imperative. we don't have a choice because our legal remedies have now concluded in the supreme court today. as inexplicable as this decision

is with no foundation and our constitution for upholding the individual mandate, this court has ruled today and this has meant a turning point in american history. where the largest expansion of government power over our liberties and even over our very lives so that now government for the first time in the history of the country has power to force every one of you to buy -- to force you to purchase whatever product or service government tells you to buy just because you breathe. that's never happened before in the history of the united states. and add to that dr. john fleming from louisiana. dr. john fleming.

>> look, folks, it's kind of hard to follow michele bachmann, don't you think? strong, conservative women. strong, conservative -- and congressman from the fourth district of louisiana, northwest louisiana. i'm a physician, and have been a doctor for 36 years and still practice medicine and and i've been tasked for years to not only provide health care, but to provide health care benefits to my employees. so i have an understanding of the microcosm of that economy. look, folks, obama care is despised by two-thirds of americans. we know that it will create nothing but a giant bureaucratic system and it's beginning to do that. its taken away the consumer choices and it's intruding into

your relationship between your doctor and you as a patient. now, i don't fault the supreme court today for their decision and here's why, because basically, you can see this written into justice roberts' opinion. it's up to the people who elect members of congress and the president to decide what kind of policy you want in this nation. as such, it's our responsibility as members of congress and hopefully a new president coming forward that we'll repeal obama care, lock, stock and barrel and pull it out by its roots and we intend to do that. do we have support for that? anyone in for that? remember, if you're going to get more people covered under health care insurance, you need to make it affordable and attractive and

not force them through law. what we want is more consumer choice, not more government mandates that micromanage every day of their lives and i'll also end with one other point and that is there's a difference between health care coverage and access to health care. there are countries around the world that have 100% health care coverage and you have a card that entitles you to walk into a clinic and ask for care. in many of those countries you do not get timely care. even our neighbor to the north, canada and great britain, they have 100% coverage and yet they wait in long lines sometimes and die in the process. that is not a value that we want here in america. so i thank everyone for coming out. we have our marching orders now and the second week of july the house of representatives will be voting once again to repeal obamacare and if that doesn't happen, if it doesn't get passed

all of the way through the president's signature, you know what to do on november 6th. thank you very much. part of our ongoing coverage today here on c-span3 on the supreme court's 5-4 decision to uphole the vast majority of the president's health care law of 2010. we saw the house republicans there, the democrats, and we're also getting a number of written comments as well set out by offices, and fred upton, the energy and commerce committee on the house side talked about the impact on medicaid on states. he wrote that governors across the nation have sound the a law on the unfunded mandates on obamacare and the impact on state budgets and this is the susthainability of the medicaid program and many other news comments and news conferences in reaction, and they'll have a lot of those on the website at

c-span.org and we'll have a link to the supreme court decision today. you'll find that on our special supreme court page as well. this coverage from house and senate democrats after the release of the ruling this morning at the supreme court.

>> i'm senator hartman, from the united states senate, the committee that was in charge of passing the affordable care act to the committee and to the senate. today's decision by the supreme court is a rigorous, resounding confirmation of the constitutionality of the affordable care act. it is great news for america's families, businesses and our economy, the affordable care act moves us forward for every person as affordable, quality health care in america. even though the law will not be

fully implemented for several more years it's already made a big difference in the lives of many americans. 100 million americans have received free preventative care. 105 million americans no longer face lifetime caps on benefits. more than 5 million saved more than $3.7 billion in prescription drug costs. nearly 17 million children can no longer be denied coverage, because of preexisting health conditions. today's decision keeps consumers rather than insurance companies in the driver's seat. today's decision protects more than $1 trillion in deficit reduction. today's decision allows us to continue our work, replacing the current sick care system with a true health care system. one focused on wellness and prevention and public health and keeping people out of the hospital in the first place.

the supreme court has made it clear what we have known all along, that those trying to block health care reform are standing on the wrong side of history. for those of us who believe that quality health care is a right and not a privilege, this is a great day. it is time -- it's time for speaker boehner and the republicans to put politics behind us, join with us, in insuring that every american has access to quality affordable care that no person is denied coverage due to a preexisting condition. no one has their coverage cancelled when they get sick. and to make sure that women are no longer brazenly discriminated against by insurance companies. i've often said that the affordable care act is not like the ten commandments chiseled in stone. it's like a starter home, suitable for improvement. so i call on republicans to join us in it making sensible refinements as we continue to implement the law. i invite the republicans to

bring theithor sledgehammers. let's make the affordable care act work for every american. the choice is to go forward, or to be dragged backward. the great majority of americans and now the supreme court have said we want to go forward. the justices have spoken. now let's get back to work, building a reform health care system that works not just for the wealthy and the healthy, but works for every american. and with that, i want to introduce a great partner who has been in this fight from the very beginning on our committee who has written parts of this law, the great senator from the state of maryland, senator barbara mikulski. >> thank you! [ cheers and applause ] >> good morning, america! good morning, the world! if you want to know what democracy looks like, come to constitution avenue! this is what democracy looks

like! the congress voting on health care, the supreme court has ruled on health care. we now know that health care is legal, constitutional, undeniable and irreversible. let's hear it for democracy! the system worked, and it will work for the american people. we will now be able to go forward with making sure that 32 million people have universal access. we've broken the stranglehold of insurance companies where pin stripe guys sitting in their boardrooms decided who got health care. now we know the people will get the health care they need, that their doctor says they need, and they will be able to afford to be able to get it. the crowds are cheering us on.

[ cheers and applause ] >> and for we women, it is an enormous victory, because today, what we have been able to affirm is, that insurance companies will no longer be able to discriminate on the basis of gender. where women paid 30% more for their health care, with men with the same health care status. number two, women just simply being a woman, will no longer be a preexisting condition. we cannot be denied health care because we're pregnant, because we've had a c-section, or because we've had domestic violence. and we affirm our preventative health care where we'll be able to get our mammograms, where we'll be able to get our maternity health care, and as we fought for the women, we also fought for the men too. it's very noisy here. it's very exciting here. but this is the voice of democracy. open, free to all. god bless you, god bless

america, thank god the supreme court followed the constitution. >> wow, barbara, great. >> senator ben cardin. >> well, first, ben cardin, senator from maryland. and have the honor of serving with senator barbara mikulski and the people of maryland. i want to thank senator mikulski, my colleagues here from the house of representatives for their incredible work on behalf of the american people. this is a good day for the american people. they won today. it's also a good day for the rule of law, the supreme court decision affirms, prior precedent, and confirms the proper role of the congress of the united states. it allows us to move forward with quality, affordable health care for all americans. where health care is a right, not a privilege. we are able to continue to move forward. it allows us to move forward with the reforms, to protect consumers against the practices

of insurance companies that would deny them coverage, preexisting conditions, and now allow families to keep their children on their insurance policies at age 26. and allows us to continue to expand medicare to coverage that coverage gap for prescription drugs and wellness exams for our seniors. it let's us move forward with quality health care for all americans. and to do it in a more affordable, cost effective way. this is good for the taxpayers of our country. the important message today from the supreme court is that it's now time for democrats and republicans to move forward with health care. let's not relitigate what's already been done. let's continue to make progress so all americans can indeed have quality health care in america. this is the message from the supreme court, and this is what we need to continue to do. thank you. >> senator coons.

>> thank you, senator harkin, senator cardin, thank you senator mikulski. i'm chris kuntz from delaware. the people of delaware, my constituents, my neighbors, friends like kathryn and melanie, have had their lives changed for the better by the affordable care act. and for me, supporting the affordable care act has always been about the people whose lives are changed for the better, rather than the politics being shouted by the opponents of this important bill. i am pleased that the supreme court today affirmed its role in our constitutional order by deciding on narrow and appropriate grounds to uphold the poor elements of the affordable care act. let me tell you why this matters to real people in my state. melanie first met my wife at an annual breast cancer walk, and her story is heartbreaking.

like her mother and sister before her, she was diagnosed with near-fatal breast cancer. her husband left her when he heard this news, and she lost her health care provided through her husband's employer. having lost health care, she could not get health care through a new employer. and she lost not only her opportunity at getting life-saving treatment, but her home. facing bankruptcy, facing death, it was through the affordable care act that she was able to get health insurance, despite her preexisting condition that made possible critical care in delaware's hospitals. another woman we've met who has contacted my office named kathryn. when her husband passed away, her daughter then 21, lost health care, because she couldn't afford cobra. it is only because of the affordable care act that health care was reinstated for her daughter, below 26 years old. senator harkin, senator mikulski, senator cardin, dozens of others who fought so hard to

pass this landmark bill can tell you dozens of similar stories from their states. it is time for us to work together. republican and democrat, senate and house. to focus on the issues that matter to the people of america. providing affordable, high-quality health care, insisting on progress on moving forward, rather than on those who would fight to take america backwards. and i am grateful for this landmark decision by the supreme court today, upholding the constitutionality of the core provisions of the affordable care act. thank you. >> thank you very much. i'm going to turn it over to representative keith ellison, who will introduce the house members who are here, and also families usa. okay. thank you, keith. >> had he hey, let's hear it for our senators, everybody! we're also joined by dr.