In the News

U.S. Rep. Mike Johnson joined 11 other freshman members of Congress in a letter published Tuesday by Fox News urging the U.S. Senate to act on repealing the Affordable Care Act.

Johnson, who represents a northwest Louisiana district that includes Bossier and Caddo parishes, tweeted a link the letter, saying: "The American people simply cannot afford to live under the crushing costs of #Obamacare."

In their letter, the representatives note that the Senate's health bill faltered Monday evening after two more senators announced their opposition to the bill and sunk the bill's chances. The U.S. House passed an Affordable Care Act replacement bill earlier, although it differed from the Senate plan.

"Imagine the dismay of House Republicans when they read or hear these sound bites," the House Republican freshmen wrote. "More importantly, imagine the distress of constituents across the nation who are suffering under ObamaCare. Our party campaigned on repealing and replacing ObamaCare with something better, but until now the opportunity was never truly possible."

The letter continued:

"We House Republican freshmen remain fully aware that we were elected with a mandate from voters to end the pain that ObamaCare has caused and provide a better solution. Failure to do so is a failure to follow the will of our voters who elected a Republican majority to both the House and Senate, placed a Republican in the White House, and worked tirelessly to secure change from the status quo."

They concluded with: "The House did its work, it is time for our colleagues in the Senate to do theirs."

Joining Johnson in signing the letter were Reps. Jodey Arrington (TX-19), Don Bacon (NE-2), Jack Bergman (MI-1), Neal Dunn (FL-2), Drew Ferguson (GA-3), Matt Gaetz (FL-1), Roger Marshall, M.D. (KS-1), Brian Mast (FL-18), Paul Mitchell (MI-10), John Rutherford (FL-4), and Claudia Tenney (NY-22).