Republican senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas said repealing the Obamacare individual mandate would save $300 billion over the next 10 years.
Cotton, along with Sen. Pat Toomey (R., Pa.), introduced a bill that would exempt Americans who earn less than the national median household income from paying the penalty for not having health insurance.
"I have a modest proposal for the soon-to-be-released tax legislation: Repeal Obamacare's individual mandate," Cotton tweeted. "Repealing individual mandates saves $300 billion over 10 years. CBO said so during health care debate last summer."
Cotton said repealing the mandate is a tax cut for working families since five in six families paying the penalty earn less than the median income, noting that "$300 billion pays for a lot lower tax rates for families and businesses, much better than repealing popular, widespread deductions."
Cotton believes it should be an easy vote since both the House and Senate have voted to repeal the Obamacare individual mandate.
"Besides, repealing mandate makes tax bill easier to pass, certainly easier than finding $300B by repealing popular deductions," he said.
Cotton also refutes the Democratic claim that 15 million will lose insurance.
"Repealing mandate only means IRS can't fine Americans for not being able to afford insurance," Cotton explains. "Repealing mandate doesn't take a penny from Obamacare spending on Medicaid or exchanges. Just stops IRS from fining people!"
"Repealing mandate is biggest step we could take for now to repeal Obamacare as we promised," he said. "Americans expect us to act! So let's repeal Obamacare mandate to make tax bill better and easier to pass, down payment on health care, and to keep promises."