‘The law-abiding citizens of this country shouldn’t have to pray for leniency from their own government. Last I checked, government existed to assist the public, not to antagonize it. Look: after ramming the law through Congress the way he did – ignoring the warnings that all these things would happen, ignoring the will of the American people – honesty and transparency is the very least President Obama owes the American people at this point. What he really needs to do, actually, is join with Republicans in agreeing to repeal this job-killing law. He needs to acknowledge the need to scrap it and replace it with the types of common-sense reforms that will lower costs. Because it’s not working.’

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell made the following remarks on the Senate floor today regarding the need for the President to prepare the nation for the negative effects of Obamacare:

“According to data just released by the Labor Department, retailers appear to be cutting worker hours at a rate unseen in more than 30 years.

“Investor’s Business Daily had this to say of the decline:

“’[It] doesn't appear related to the economy, which has been consistently mediocre. Instead, all evidence points to the coming launch of Obamacare, which the retail industry has warned would cause just such a result.’

“So this is just the latest in a string of bad news related to the rollout of Obamacare. Just the latest reason the law needs to be repealed.

“What’s more, businesses are being forced to cut workers’ hours at a time when so many Americans – nearly 8 million last month, according to Labor – have already been squeezed into part-time positions they’d prefer not to be in in the first place.

“Many of these are Americans who’d probably much rather be working full-time. Yet, thanks to Obamacare, many of them may be forced to work even less. But it gets worse.

“Labor also reported that total benefits for employees in service operations actually declined last quarter – declined. That’s the first such deterioration in more than a decade – and some speculate that this piece of bad news could be attributed to Obamacare as well.

“All this for a law, the full brunt of which hasn’t even begun to really come online yet. We’re still many months away from that. And yet stories like this just seem to keep piling up.

“When it comes to the implementation of Obamacare, I fear that some of the worst hit are likely to be small businesses and the Americans who work for them.

“These are the hometown companies that struggled so mightily just to keep their doors open throughout the Obama economy, whose owners sacrificed so much in order to keep their families fed and their employees on payroll. These businesses, they struggled against fierce economic headwinds – and they survived.

“Now, will they be able to survive the next assault headed their way, to absorb the blows of Obamacare – blows thrown at them by their own government – at a time when they are already so vulnerable? Well, if things keep as they are, it’s hard to see how they will.

“Just listen to this. Last week, a small business owner in the barbeque restaurant business testified at a field hearing of the House Education and Workforce Committee. The owner of that company said that it could cost his business up to $200,000 to implement the Obamacare mandate. And that company’s projected net profit for 2013? $240,000. Incredible.

“It’s not hard to see why the Democrat Chairman of the Finance Committee called this law a ‘train wreck.’

“It’s not hard to see why so many Democrats are now airing their concerns about the law out in public. I wish they’d considered these consequences before – not after – passing the law. It’s not like Republicans weren’t warning about all of this. It’s not like independent experts across the country weren’t saying almost exactly the same thing. And it’s not like common sense wouldn’t simply dictate much of these outcomes either.

“And I see that the President has decided to ‘pivot’ once again to jobs. I can’t even count how many times he’s done one of these ‘pivots’ at this point, so I won’t try. But I presume he’ll jet off around the country to campaign-style rallies in order to bash Congress and claim that none of this is his fault.

“In the same vein, we hear he’s going to have an Obamacare event this Friday. Well, I’d be willing to bet that he’s not going to take responsibility there for Obamacare’s negative effects on our economy either, or on so many American families and small businesses.

“It’s about time he did, and he should use that event to do so. Because he needs to be straight with the American people. He needs to prepare them for everything that’s coming – the wage cuts, the lost jobs, the higher premiums. Everything our country can expect as a result of Obamacare.

“That small business owner I mentioned earlier, he also had this to say:

‘Major companies I am sure have legal advisors that will…guide them through this legislation. Small businesses such as ours must obtain as much available information as possible and do their best to live by the letter of the law. Then because this act is [complicated], hope and pray we do not get penalized.’

“The law-abiding citizens of this country shouldn’t have to pray for leniency from their own government. Last I checked, government existed to assist the public, not to antagonize it.

“Look: after ramming the law through Congress the way he did – ignoring the warnings that all these things would happen, ignoring the will of the American people – honesty and transparency is the very least President Obama owes the American people at this point.

“What he really needs to do, actually, is join with Republicans in agreeing to repeal this job-killing law. He needs to acknowledge the need to scrap it and replace it with the types of common-sense reforms that will lower costs. Because it’s not working.

“I think he already knows that. Republicans know it. And more and more Democrats are coming around to that realization too.

“So let’s skip the scripted campaign events and actually work together to get something positive done for jobs, health care, and our economy. If President Obama is willing to work with us, we’re here and ready to get to work.”