(MEMPHIS, TN), June 28, 2012 -- State Senator Brian Kelsey (R-Germantown) today released the following statement in response to the U.S. Supreme Court decision regarding the Affordable Care Act.

"The Supreme Court saved Congress from its cowardly refusal to call a 'tax' a 'tax.'  I hope the U.S. Senate will join the House in voting to repeal the Affordable Care Act and its mandate that individuals purchase health insurance."

"I'm glad the Court upheld Tennessee's freedom to design its own Medicaid program with no fear of losing existing funds.  Even our own former Democratic Governor Phil Bredesen called the Affordable Care Act 'the mother of all unfunded mandates' and estimated it would cost Tennessee taxpayers over $1 billion in the next five years.  I don't know where that money would have come from.  With this decision, the Tennessee budget remains on solid footing."
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