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Danner Kline

(c/o Danner Kline)

By Danner Kline, the founder of Free the Hops, the grassroots advocacy group that successfully lobbied to reform Alabama beer laws, paving the way for the state's brewing industry. He currently manages the craft beer portfolio for a beverage wholesaler

On Friday, March 24th, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan cancelled the planned vote in the U.S. House of Representatives on the American Health Care Act (AHCA), the bill he had proposed to repeal and replace Obamacare. Ryan admitted: Obamacare remains the law of the land for the foreseeable future. He plainly stated House leaders were abandoning their attempt.

This is the most stunning violation of a promise in the modern history of American politics.

The repeal and replacement of Obamacare has been the centerpiece of Congressional Republicans' message to voters for seven years and after only a few weeks of working they just gave up - on the bill and on improving your health care.

Over the last few days they've made claims they are working on another attempt, but the fundamental divide in the caucus that doomed the AHCA has not been bridged. We should not believe they can pass a bill until we see the President signing it.

Republicans' current control of the House of Representatives was won in the 2010 midterm election, fueled entirely by public anger over Obamacare. They voted to repeal the law at least once a year, every year of Obama's presidency, knowing full well that if it ever did pass the Senate the President would veto it.

Representative Joe Barton of Texas recently explained that these votes were like playing "fantasy football." I believe voters would be surprised to learn their Representatives think of governing as just a big fantasy game - I know I was.

Real work For real people

Today I am launching my campaign for Congress in Alabama's 6th district to do real work, not play games.

The greatest betrayal in the health care reform process has been Congressional Republicans' deception. Publicly they criticized the failings of the law in terms they knew were popular with voters. Privately they planned to make those failings even worse.

Their actual goal was to remove government from the equation entirely. This would have made insurance more expensive and left millions of our friends and neighbors without coverage. They knew it would cover less and cost more.

Real ideas for real solutions

Fixing the problems with our health care system is not a hopeless task. It's possible to create more competition for insurers. It's possible to make premiums more affordable for you. It's possible to improve health care for everyone.

Improving subsidies or lowering the eligibility age for Medicare alone would improve the system, but the folks we elected to Congress couldn't agree on either of them.

I do not believe there is only one possible path forward and there is no shortage of ideas that could work. I intend to listen to consumers, doctors, hospital administrators, and other stakeholders to find the most practical ways to improve the system. Doing that requires a person to prioritize pragmatism over ideology, something the current representative in this district is unwilling or unable to do.

Working together for you

Our country needs people in Congress willing to work together with the President on his most popular campaign promise: to provide affordable, universal health coverage to all Americans.

Alabama's 6th Congressional district is currently represented by a man who does not share the President's goal on this issue. Before the vote on the AHCA was cancelled, Representative Gary Palmer told constituents who called his office that he was planning to vote "yes" on the bill that would have taken health coverage away from thousands of people in his district.

He's not interested in Alabamians having affordable health care; he's not interested in working together; he's not interested in the human cost.

I will work with anyone in Washington, D.C., who is committed to providing affordable health care to every American. It's what President Trump promised he would deliver and it's what Americans want. The system can be fixed by people who want to fix it rather than destroy it. The system can be fixed by people who work together.

Defend Alabama, defend you

As your representative I will defend the people of Alabama from efforts in Congress to make your health insurance cover less while costing more. I will defend you from efforts to allow industry to pollute your rivers and lakes. I will defend you from members of Congress who put ideology over your best interests.

Our current representative cares only about his ideology and his party's interests.

He doesn't care if Alabamians go without health care. He doesn't care if the rivers that we fish in and our children play in are polluted. He doesn't care if the next generation of jobs - the ones our grandchildren will rely on - never materialize because he didn't invest enough in research and development.

Always remember this - when I am elected to Congress to represent each of you in Alabama's 6th district - I will defend Alabama. I will defend the people of my district. And I will defend you.

To learn more, visit my website and follow me on Facebook and Twitter.