Atlanta, GA – “Earlier today, Tea Party Patriots released a statement of support for the Graham-Cassidy-Heller-Johnson legislation regarding ObamaCare. Some have mistakenly interpreted a line explaining how we arrived at our position to claim that Tea Party Patriots opposes the legislation. This interpretation is wrong, and I want to make it clear – Tea Party Patriots supports the Graham-Cassidy-Heller-Johnson legislation as a step toward full repeal of ObamaCare.

“Since its inception in 2009, Tea Party Patriots has opposed ObamaCare. We opposed it when it was under consideration, we opposed it when it became law, we opposed it when various aspects were challenged in court. We stood in the rain and the snow, in the dead of winter and in the heat and humidity of Washington summers, because we believe it is bad law that worsens health care in our country, puts bureaucrats between patients and their doctors, raises taxes and costs across the board, and constitutes an improper government takeover of our health care system.

“We have supported efforts to repeal ObamaCare and Congress’ illegal special exemption from ObamaCare, and we continue to do so.

“Our earlier statement referenced our supporters’ concerns that the bill does not fully repeal ObamaCare. Even its cosponsors and supporters acknowledge the bill does not fully repeal ObamaCare.

“Our supporters, clearly, are more sophisticated than some people believe. And that’s important, because unlike many grassroots organizations, Tea Party Patriots actually takes its lead from our grassroots supporters. When we take a position on a significant piece of legislation, we do so only after surveying our supporters and asking their opinions. We ask them what they think of a bill personally, and we ask them a separate question to learn what position they want our organization to take.

“In this case, a majority indicated that they want Tea Party Patriots to support the bill as a step toward repealing ObamaCare.

“Consequently, Tea Party Patriots supports the Graham-Cassidy-Heller-Johnson legislation. And we believe President Trump should direct the Office of Personnel Management to overturn Congress’ illegal special exemption from ObamaCare.”