Today, U.S. Senator and Ranking Member for the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor and Health and Human Services Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) offered several amendments to the Senate Labor-HHS-Ed appropriations bill for FY 2014. Two of those amendments — delaying the Affordable Care Act (ACA) individual and employer mandates — failed in party-line votes.

“While the Administration announced delaying the ACA employer mandate last week, I’m alarmed that my Democratic Appropriations Committee colleagues failed to recognize the real-world impacts of that decision,” Sen. Moran said. “I’m also disappointed that those same colleagues failed to acknowledge that individuals and families, as well as businesses, need relief from this damaging law. The real problem continues to be the entire Affordable Care Act. Its implementation has not lowered costs or increased access as promised. Individuals, families and employers still face increasing health insurance costs, new taxes overseen by what we have recently learned is a politically-biased IRS, burdensome mandates, and great uncertainty because of this flawed law. The best course of action is to dismantle and permanently delay the ACA, and replace it with practical reforms that are workable and will actually reduce health care costs.”

According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), Sen. Moran’s employer and individual mandate delay amendments would not cost the federal government.