U.S. Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (MO-9) today issued the following statement on the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision upholdinng as constitutional key portions of President Obama’s health-care law:

“Today I join the more than 70 percent of Missourians that voted down this mandate at the polls in August 2010 in expressing sincere disappointment in the Supreme Court’s decision upholding as constitutional a law that was forced upon hard-working Americans by President Barack Obama and his liberal allies in Congress. While all American families deserve access to high-quality, affordable health coverage, like many Missourians, I believe this law does nothing to better achieve these goals.  Countless nonpartisan studies have suggested that, in fact, the law will leave many Americans still uninsured.  A trillion dollars is a lot of money to spend to leave many people still struggling to buy basic health care. This law already has raised families’ premiums – and will continue to suffocate economic growth and jobs; make damaging cuts to Medicare, affecting seniors’ access to care; and will pave the way for federally funded abortions. One of the most contested parts of the law – the individual mandate – was upheld by the Supreme Court as a tax. Regardless of how the mandate is framed, I still believe this flawed law greatly expands the power of the federal government over its citizens and I will continue to work to repeal it in its entirety.”

Given the impact of health-care policy on small businesses, Randy Park, President of Printex, a small screen printing, embroidery and promotional products business based in Hannibal, Mo., issued the following statement about the health-care law:

“Obamacare will require me to restructure by reducing jobs. We do not provide health insurance. We cannot afford it. We are a low to minimum wage employer competing with a Central American work force in the garment industry, and our own government, that pays better through long weeks of unemployment benefits, Medicaid, food stamps, free cell phones, subsidized housing, energy assistance, free lunches, Pell Grants and welfare. Most of my employees are second income, or have had a hard time finding a job, due to low skill levels. I can’t cut their wages enough to pay the fine and the employees won’t be able to afford to buy the mandated insurance on an $8 an hour job. The first group that would go would be a third of my work force that I am collecting child support garnishments for the government. Instead of Obamacare, let insurance companies cross state lines and open up competition. Give everyone a tax credit to buy their own insurance and be responsible for their own health-care. Stop the entitlement attitude that thinks someone else is responsible for your health-care.”