From the Office of Senator Bennett Miller

Executive Chairman of the Liberty Caucus

Committee on Health, Education and Pensions

Dear Patriot,
Today is a dark day for America. All across our great country, good, god-fearing
Americans are mourning another triumph of the Washington cartel over the will of the
voters that elected them. The uncompromising conservatism Americans have demanded
has been rejected in favor of the radical left wing agenda. Let me explain.
As I have consistently promised to Louisiana voters, my primary legislative
priority in this and all other sessions is repealing the Affordable Care Act. In all my years
of public service, I have never encountered legislation that so negatively impacts our
great state as Obamacare does. Thousands of Louisianans have lost their health plans,
been forced to pay upwards of 100% more for health insurance, or have left the
workforce altogether because of the law. Competition in the insurance industry has
dramatically dropped, while Obamacares brutal taxes cripple hard-working individuals
and innovative companies alike.
To fix all this, I proposed the Help All Americans Thrive Act, which would
entirely repeal Obamacare, enabling the private sector to innovate and compete, and
thereby drive prices down and make voluntary health insurance accessible to all. But
while the HAATA passed the Senate, liberals and RINOs in the House of
Representatives had other ideas. Congressmen in the pocket of the pharmaceutical
industry orchestrated the bills narrow, 18-19 defeat, denying the will of the American
people and reaffirming that corrupt politicians and corporations truly reign in the land
of the free.
The rejection of the HAATA was only one of the many assaults on logical,
traditional American values perpetrated by this Congress. Socialist legislators, aided and
abetted by the spineless moderates who constitute the Republican leadership, passed a
series of radical, liberal bills, while rejecting the common-sense conservative legislation
that is truly needed to fix our country. Rather than generalizing each tragedy, let me
describe them in turn.

Senator Ederer of Nebraska is one of the most talented conservative

legislators in Congress. During this session, I was proud to work with him
in drafting the National Labor Freedoms Act, the largest labor reform bill
of our generation. The bill would establish national Right-to-Work
provisions, ban labor unions from making political donations, and

expanded access to flexible leave to all employees. These provisions would

yield immediate and impactful benefits for Louisiana workers. The NLFA
would make it easier for job creators to expand the workforce, and would
prevent employees all over the country from being forced into unions.
Most importantly, the compensatory time off expansion would give every
day Americans the same privilege thats been enjoyed by overpaid, Ivory
tower bureaucrats in Washington for decades: the right to earn paid leave,
time that can be spent with family, pursuing hobbies, and embracing all
America has to offer. Because of its common sense provisions, the NLFA
passed the Senate with a near supermajority, but the House refused to
debate it. Congressmen, Republican and Democrat alike, demonstrated for
all the nation to see that they are entirely dismissive of the American
workingman.
The House was not alone in betraying conservative principles. The Senate,
corrupted by moderates and liberals, passed a Cap-and-Trade bill, one
which threatened to destroy the American energy industry. The bill would
cap the amount of carbon companies could produce, force companies to
purchase permits, and slowly strangle the use of fossil fuels by cutting the
number of permits granted each year. Beyond desecrating American
values by inserting the federal government into a sector the private market
has a long and healthy track record in, the bill endangers the critically
important oil and gas industries of Louisiana. As the nations number 2
producer of oil and natural gas, we rely on fossil fuels to feed our families
and put a roof over our heads. By targeting this industry, politicians
demonstrated their willingness to forsake the happiness and livelihoods of
thousands of hard-working Americans, not just in Louisiana but all over
the country, in favor of liberal scientific conspiracies. While the bill died in
the House, it was a terrifying example of the left-wing school of thought
that prevails in this Congress.
Just like the energy sector, agriculture makes up a critical aspect of the
Louisiana economy, providing for us like it has for hundreds of years. But
just like so many other parts of American life, liberals want to radically
reshape it. The House and Senate, over my passionate, strenuous
objections, passed the Back to the Source Act, which uses American tax
dollars to help Mexican mega-farms. The act stipulates that the FDA
ensure the quality of Mexican produce, making it cheaper and easier to
take Mexican goods across the border and compete with American
agricultural products. While I urged Congress to have Mexico pay for these
measures to at least minimize the dire cost for Louisianans, I was rejected
out of hand. Since the law was passed and signed by the President,

Louisiana farmers will now be fundamentally undermined in the market

by a federal government that simply doesnt care about them.
The final assault on Constitutional principles came on the subject of gun
control, where liberals have shown their insatiable desire to strip away the
gun rights we Louisianans and Americans hold dear. The Bipartisan
Mental Illness and Firearms Act would allow judges and doctors to
illegally tear away the gun rights of Americans asserted to have a mental
illness, even years after they have been declared fully mentally competent.
This law would have done nothing to stop mass shootings like the tragedy
at Sandy Hook Elementary while setting the Unites States on a course
toward gun registration and confiscation, as the law forces states to share
gun registration information with the federal government. This
unconstitutional measure was vetoed by the President, only to be
overturned by a clearly illegal voice vote held without debate. The
despicably shoddy vote to confirm this bill served as a final insult levied
against the American people this session.

These attacks on basic governing logic are almost overwhelming, but we can find
some joy in the small victories obtained this session. Working closely with Senator Cole
Greenberg, I secured the unamended passage of the American Energy Independence
Act, which utilizes tariffs and quotas to aid the expansion of the U.S. energy sector. In
Louisiana, this expansion will bring millions of dollars and thousands of new jobs to the
state by invigorating private industry to utilize the full weight of Americas natural
bounty. The AEIA will also help protect Louisianans from the worst the eco-left can
throw at us.
Like any true American, I am incensed with what this Congress is foisting upon
our nation. I promise that I will not let these forces of radical socialism conquer us
without opposition. I will work tirelessly with the other true conservatives in Congress to
make sure Louisianans never have to live in the other sides version of America. It will
not be easy, but with the same spirit of determination and grit that made this country
great, we can protect our freedom and create the United States we want to live in.
With Liberty,

Bennett Miller