File photo of Gov. Rick Perry. (Photo by Stewart F. House/Getty Images)
Bergen County, N.J. (CBS HOUSTON) – At a campaign event for U.S. Senate candidate Steve Lonegan, Texas Gov. Rick Perry said that the nation’s passing of Obamacare is a “criminal act.”
Speaking at a Bergen County rally for the New Jersey Republican candidate, Perry said that implementation of President Barack Obama’s signature health care reform law is a “felony” against young Americans, the Star-Ledger reports.
“If this heath care law is forced upon this country, the young men and women in this audience are the ones who are really going to pay the price,” said Perry, a former Republican candidate for president in 2012. “And that, I suggest to you, reaches the point of being a felony toward them and their future.
“That is a criminal act, from my perspective, to put that type of burden on them; to mortgage their future like that,” he continued. “America cannot stand that.”
Perry’s words to the crowd at the Bendix Diner in Hasbrouck Heights come as the federal government shutdown continues, which Perry blamed on Democrats being unwilling to defund or delay the Affordable Care Act.
Enrollment for the Affordable Care Act health exchanges began on Oct. 1.
Both Perry and Lonegan showed their support for Congressional Republicans fighting the implementation of the federal health care law, and said they were proud they had “the guts to hold the line against Obamacare.”
