Gov. Mike Pence: GOP Making Greatest Gains at State Level

Republican governors are passing laws that "preserve freedom" and protect themselves from federal mandates like Obamacare rather than waiting for Washington lawmakers to make meaningful change, first-term Indiana Gov. Mike Pence said in Saturday's weekly GOP address.

"The over-regulation, higher taxes and new mandates coming from Washington, D.C. are stifling our economy and hurting efforts being made in states across the country," Pence said.

Obamacare and its looming mandates are leaving business owners and workers in his state in "survival mode" as they try to "figure out how to survive the new normal of more regulations, higher taxes and the impending costs and mandates."

And as implementation of the law comes closer in October, Americans are learning about the burdens it will cause, said Pence.

"In Indiana, the Affordable Care Act will raise the average cost of health insurance in the individual market by an unaffordable 72 percent," said Pence.

"In addition, the Obama administration is creating confusion in the marketplace, from its suspension of the cap on out-of-pocket expenses, to providing subsidies without verifying income, to a one-year suspension of the employer mandate, this health care law is weighing down our economy. It's costing jobs, discouraging investment and making the future bleak for too many families."

Thirty Republican governors nationwide are pushing back, Pence said, to "preserve freedom."

"While Washington raises taxes, Republicans governors are cutting them," Pence said. "As Washington stifles job growth by adding new regulations, Republican governors are adding jobs by eliminating unneeded regulations and bringing fresh approaches to some of the nation's greatest challenges."

In his state, Pence said, the Healthy Indiana Plan offers uninsured people an affordable health care plan with savings accounts that they can control.

"Giving people in Indiana more freedom and more responsibility over their health care has improved outcomes and now 95 percent our plan's enrollees are satisfied with their coverage," said Pence. " This is a perfect example of the truth that by letting freedom and personal responsibility work together, you reduce the need for government."

Pence said he and his fellow Republican governors are proving that states can be effective in balancing budgets, lowering taxes and having less regulation so that they can promote job growth.

"These are tough times, and this health care law may make them tougher still," said Pence. "That's why we should always remember on whose shoulders we stand– and never forget as President Reagan reminded us, that 'the states that created the federal government, the federal government didn't create the states.'"