Sen. David Perdue (R., Ga.) broke a Senate Democrat talkathon on health care to slam Democratic obstruction and Obamacare in an angry late night speech on Monday.
"I can't go to bed tonight without putting this record straight in this body," Perdue said at the opening of his 11:00 p.m. speech to the Senate.
Perdue said that there were over 200 people waiting to be confirmed into the Trump administration, while "holdovers from the last administration" were running the government. He then castigated the Affordable Care Act and Democrats for claiming the ACA was responsible for insuring millions.
"After the ACA, 28 million people as we stand here tonight still do not have insurance in America. Twenty-eight million. Now, of the 20 million that got it, 16 million got it only because of the expansion of Medicaid, not because of Obamacare in the individual market," Perdue said.
"All that was was a bribery of the federal government to states who decided to take the money and run. They didn't do their citizens full justice," he continued.
Perdue then said that the "if you like your doctor you can keep your doctor" claim was not true for him, as he had his plan canceled because Obamacare policies forced unnecessary exchanges.
"My rate has almost doubled because we had to take things in policies that we did not need," he said.
Perdue went on to attack single-payer, a health care option that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) has declared "on the table."
"But we've disrupted the entire health care system because we thought—the Democrats thought that bigger government approach would work. Well, how has that worked out with places like the VA [Veterans Affairs]? If you like the VA, you're going to love a single-payer system because that's exactly what it is," Perdue said.
Perdue then pointed out that the Congressional Budget Office estimates on Obamacare were wrong.
"In 2010 they overestimated the number of people who would sign up for Obamacare by 12 million people. They missed the estimate by more than 50 percent. This isn't a rounding error. They don't know what they're doing. Right now today we have the same problem," he said.
Perdue also attacked the claim that Obamacare is getting more expensive because of uncertainty in the markets.
"This year's rates were determined last year before we even knew that this president was going to be."
"Obamacare is hurting people right now. They can't afford the insurance they're offered today. I feel it firsthand in my own life," Perdue said.
Perdue talked about how Medicaid was on an unsustainable path before loudly campaigning to move forward on health care reform.
"And yet, they want to talk about, oh, this great open policy. They have had seven years to fix this mess. Seven years. The people in my state have been hurt by it. It's unforgivable, and we can do something about it this week," Perdue said.
"Health care is very important, but it's bigger than that. This is about the direction of our country. Are we going to try and trust big government again and again and again until we can't afford it?" Perdue asked.