Gardner doubles down on promises by conservatives to curb Obamacare
Over the shouts of protesters who sought to disrupt his speech, U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner on Friday told a conservative gathering that he would “address the issue of health care” in the coming week, doubling down on Republican promises to repeal Obamacare, even as the effort’s success is increasingly in doubt.
The Coloradan’s comments, delivered at the Colorado Convention Center, came on the opening night of the Western Conservative Summit — the second major conservative political conference in downtown Denver this week, as the American Legislative Exchange Council wrapped up its own annual meeting at a hotel across the street.
Hosted by the Centennial Institute, a conservative Christian policy center based at Colorado Christian University, the annual conservative summit’s organizers say its the largest annual conservative political gathering outside of Washington, D.C., drawing thousands of attendees from across the country.
In his remarks, Gardner spoke largely in generalities, pledging to “get Washington out of the way” and “give consumers more choice, more options and more freedom” when it comes to health care. He also reiterated comments he made in an interview with The Denver Post earlier this week, suggesting that cuts to Medicaid may be needed “to make sure that we focus our health care efforts on those who need it the most.”
“What has happened is government has tried to grow so much that is has created instability in our most important
safety net program,” Gardner said at Friday’s event.
Protesters from disability-advocacy group Atlantis ADAPT talked over the Republican at length and shouted for “no cuts to Medicaid” as they were escorted out of the convention ballroom. Others in the audience responded with chants of “USA! USA!” to drown them out, while Gardner pressed on.
Under the Affordable Care Act, often called Obamacare, Colorado added more than 400,000 residents to the Medicaid rolls, helping to drive down the number of Coloradans without health insurance from 15.8 percent in 2011 to 6.7 percent in 2015. But federal and state spending on Medicaid has soared as a result, and Gardner says he worries about the program’s financial viability in the long run.
While those in atten- dance gave Gardner loud cheers throughout his speech, conservatives’ patience may be running thin. Jeff Hunt, the Centennial Institute’s director, drew cheers of his own when he called on Congress to act.
“No more excuses — it’s time to repeal Obamacare,” Hunt said. “Get it done. We sent you there for a reason.”
Earlier this week, Gardner in his interview with The Post wouldn’t say whether he would vote for any of the health care proposals still being floated in the U.S. Senate.
“I would prefer a solution that would be a replacement for the failing Affordable Care Act,” Gardner told The Post.
Protesters aside, the mood Friday night was predominantly upbeat. To kick things off, the thousands in attendance were shown a video of Gardner, state lawmakers, State Treasurer Walker Stapleton and gubernatorial candidate George Brauchler dancing to Justin Timberlake’s “Can’t Stop the Feeling.”
U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke was the first featured speaker of the night, pledging to expand offshore drilling after the Obama administration’s last ditch effort to ban it just weeks before he left office.
“The war on American energy is over,” Zinke said.
John Bolton, a former ambassador to the United Nations, spoke at length about Russia, saying there was no evidence of collusion between the country and President Donald Trump’s campaign. But, he added, there was no question Russia interfered in the 2016 election, calling it an “existential threat.”
“When the Constitution is interfered with by anyone — particularly by foreigners — we consider that an act of war,” Bolton said. “We need to show that there’s a big cost to interfering in an election. … They need to feel more than comparable pain to what they tried to do to us.”