November 20, 2025
“We have a chance right now to do better, help families afford coverage, pass bipartisan reforms that cut costs and refuse to add another $350 billion to the national debt.”
View Husted’s remarks here.
WASHINGTON – Sen. Jon Husted (R-Ohio) today delivered a speech on the Senate floor to discuss his bill that just became law, the SMART OTC Act, and outline a framework to lower health care costs.
Key excerpts include:
“Mr. President, as I’ve said on this floor many times, the government shutdown had many victims. Air traffic controllers, TSA agents and many other public servants.
“And of course, the American people themselves, who were the most affected by this.”
. . .
“Thankfully, the bill passed in this chamber last week put that chaos behind us.
“But that wasn’t all that it did.
“In some small way, in a difficult time, it proved that we can work together to do tangible things to reduce health care costs in this county.”
. . .
“As a matter of fact, I worked on a bipartisan basis to introduce the SMART OTC Act, which became law as part of the government reopening.”
. . .
“The bill aims to make lowering the cost of over-the-counter drugs more accessible to patients by eliminating the red tape at the FDA.”
. . .
“I’m proud to have worked on that bill to make things better for Ohioans and the entire country.”
. . .
“I have been in the Senate less than a year, and I wasn’t here when Congress passed Obamacare or the Biden COVID subsidies that have been used to prop up the ACA exchanges.
“But I want to be part of the solution.”
. . .
“The ACA exchange system is too expensive and too complicated, and it has failed to reduce the underlying cost of health care.
“It’s failed.
“And the truth is, health care inflation is the number one driver of inflation in the 21st century.”
. . .
“If we want to lower costs, want to lower the cost of care, we must deliver reforms that put patients in charge.
“And I believe we can earn bipartisan support with a straightforward and responsible framework focused on what I call the fraud, freeze and fix approach.”
. . .
“Two things we need to do: Protect families from the cost, the inflationary costs that the ACA has created, but also protect the taxpayer.”
. . .
“We didn’t get into this mess overnight, and we won’t get out of it simply by writing bigger checks.”
. . .
“If this debate ends with one side saying extend everything and the other side saying we oppose everything, nothing will get done, and we will have failed the American people.”
. . .
“We have a chance right now to do better, help families afford coverage, pass bipartisan reforms that cut costs and refuse to add another $350 billion to the national debt.”
. . .
“I am the newest member of the U.S. Senate.
“I wasn’t here when Congress created this problem, but these ideas are part of the solution.”
. . .
“If anyone in this chamber is willing to work together, let’s go.
“It’s time to do it.
“The time is now.
“The American people deserve nothing less.
“And let’s get ready to get the job done.”