By Rick Perry On Jan. 25, 2007, then-Sen. Barack Obama delivered a speech declaring that "the time has come for universal health care in America." Two years later, he was president of the United States -- and he told a joint session of Congress that health care was his top priority. Just over a year after that, Obamacare became the law of the land. America has been staggering under its burdens and failures ever since. Insurance companies have pulled up stakes in states across the country, leaving consumers few options throughout the country. Costs have risen dramatically, despite Democratic promises Obamacare would lower insurance costs. Patients have lost choices, doctors and insurance plans, and in some cases, lost access to cancer specialists and other life-saving caregivers. It was always predictable Obamacare would collapse of its own weight because it centralizes health care in America, empowering the bureaucracy instead of doctors and patients. It has not controlled health care costs as promised. Instead, Americans are paying more than ever. Unchecked, it is careening toward disaster. The answer to this massive problem is not to do nothing. That would expose millions of Americans to greater risk because of a paralysis to act. It is to pass patient-centered reform that expands choices while mending the safety net the most vulnerable Americans rely upon for their care. Lost in the reform debate is a mention of the best solution. The best antidote to the failures of centralization is decentralization. It's time to empower the states, as our federalist system envisions. I served as governor of Texas, the second largest state, for 14 years. I know full well that Texans largely have different ideas about health care than well-intentioned Washington bureaucrats. Over the years, Texas has done a number of innovative things to improve health care in ways we knew made sense for Texas. The Lone Star State set up its own high-risk pool to help people with pre-existing conditions; it established programs like Special Needs for Children, Star+Plus, which is our state-managed home and community-based services program, and PACE, Texas' all-inclusive program for elder care. Washington would not have known how to do those things right for Texas. For an issue as personal and as important as health care, there's no one policy Congress can come up with that will be right for some 320 million Americans. It's why, when Obamacare was implemented in 2014, hundreds of thousands of Texans decided they'd rather pay fines than navigate the Byzantine system of regulation, and its various unintended costs. The proposal from Congress contains many positive reforms to Medicaid -- in fact, they are included in the Senate's Better Care Reconciliation Act. These would give states more control to deliver better care at lower costs for those in need. The spirit of those reforms should be incorporated into the rest of the health care debate to free states fully from the regulatory burdens of Obamacare that Washington has imposed upon them. Greater flexibility alone will not solve the problem for states caring for the sick and poor. Sufficient federal resources are still needed for governors to deliver effective care under Medicaid. I agree with Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Mike Lee of Utah that health care choices should be transparent and free of Washington requirements. Let's keep the costs of plans down for everyone and make sure Americans with pre-existing conditions are adequately covered. There is an historic opportunity for Congress to finally empower people and states and move control out of Washington. There will not be another opportunity like this for a very long time. It has never been enough to repeal Obamacare. Repeal is obvious, because its failure is obvious. Replacing it is much harder work. But it must be done, with a focus on returning health care to states, individuals, and the health care professionals that care for them. The debate over health care has consumed Washington for over a decade. America can't afford another decade of spiraling costs, political bickering, or inaction. This may be the only window we have to do this. Millions of Americans are depending on their representatives to repeal this crushing law and can benefit from the common-sense solutions being considered in the Senate. We cannot, and must not, fail them any longer.

By Michelle Ye Hee Lee Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump took an uncharacteristic approach leading up to the first GOP debate, to be held this week, playing down expectations about his performance and saying that he is "highly unlikely" to attack his opponents first. Making the rounds Sunday on political talk shows, Trump said he is unsure how he will do in his first public debate. "I'm not a debater. These politicians -- I always say, they're all talk, no action. They debate all the time. ... We'll see what happens. Who knows?" Trump said on ABC's "This Week." He added: "I don't think I'm going to be throwing punches. I'm not looking to attack them." When asked about criticisms he has leveled at competitors, Trump said he had made his comments as a "counterpunch." "I think I'm a nice person, I really do," he said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "I'd like to discuss the issues. I'm not looking to take anybody out or be nasty to anybody." Trump also said he may consider a third-party run, despite a request by Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus for GOP candidates to pledge not to run as third-party candidates if they do not win the nomination. Asked whether he would take the pledge, Trump said it depends on whether he is "treated fairly" by the Republican Party. "If I'm treated fairly by the Republican Party, I would have no interest in doing that. If I'm not treated fairly by the Republican Party, I very well might consider that. And I would certainly not give that up," Trump said on "This Week." Several GOP candidates stood by their criticisms of Trump in interviews Sunday. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who last week called Trump's surge a "temporary sort of loss of sanity," said on CNN's "State of the Union" that although Trump represents "a vein of anger" toward Washington, "there's also going to be a serious debate, ultimately, starting this week, in the presidential debates, about who has the ideas that would fix the country." "I'll challenge Donald Trump. … I'm going to clearly push back, and I'm going to push back hard," former Texas governor Rick Perry said on "Fox News Sunday," doubling down on his swipes at Trump. Meanwhile, Ohio Gov. John Kasich took the opposite approach in his "Fox News Sunday" interview, distancing himself from a tweet by his top political strategist John Weaver. "He won't be sending any more tweets like that," Kasich said. "That's not the way we operate.… We don't appreciate stuff like that. I don't think you'll see any more of that."

By Rick Perry Being president of the United States is serious business, not a reality TV show. This is especially true for the next president, who will have a big job ahead after the failures of the Obama administration. Our challenges are too complex -- and the future of our country too important -- to let egos, inflated rhetoric, and emotion take the place of thoughtful discussion. I made the case recently for why GOP policies are the best to create opportunity across the country for families of all backgrounds. I've held up my home state's reforms in economic, education, and sentencing policies as examples of conservative governance that have made life better for minorities in Texas compared with other places around the country. And I've been honest about our party's shortcomings -- including my own -- in engaging all Americans in our conversations about the future of this nation. But we can't do that if we're pitting black against white against brown; rich against poor; women against men. Playing identity politics takes a page right out of the Democrats' playbook, and we Republicans are better than that. That's why rhetoric such as the kind employed by Donald Trump is damaging -- it's damaging to our party, and most important, damaging to the United States of America. I believe strongly that Mr. Trump's philosophy is not conservatism, but rather a toxic mix of demagoguery and nonsense. Mr. Trump's absurdity reached a new low over the weekend, when he spit in the eye of every American prisoner of war, particularly Senator John McCain. But frankly, we should expect no better from a man who couldn't be bothered to answer the call to serve his nation when it needed him most. Mr. Trump's absurdity reached a new low over the weekend, when he spit in the eye of every American prisoner of war, particularly Senator John McCain. As a veteran and the son of a veteran, I find Mr. Trump's brand of vitriol particularly offensive, and I have no confidence that he could adeptly lead our nation's armed forces. His comments over the weekend should completely and immediately disqualify him from seeking our nation's highest office. Our nation's warriors have been let down and left behind by the bureaucratic bungling of the Veterans Administration. They deserve a leader who will stand up for them, not one who ridicules the deadly circumstances they willingly put themselves in when they volunteer to protect our nation. Then there is the issue of border security -- a challenge Mr. Trump claims to have single-handedly identified and suddenly become expert in. But Mr. Trump's ridiculous and irresponsible assertion that Texas has not done enough to secure the border betrays his fundamental misunderstanding of this issue. And even though Mr. Trump may spend a lot of time talking about border security today, his interest doesn't predate his entrance in the presidential field. We heard no outcry from Mr. Trump when Jocelyn Johnson's husband, Rodney, was gunned down in 2006 in a sanctuary city by an individual who had previously been deported. Mr. Trump was similarly silent last summer, when we saw an unprecedented flood of unaccompanied children crossing the border because of President Obama's dangerous amnesty policies. Likewise last year, not a word from Mr. Trump when Border Patrol agent Javier Vega Jr. was shot and killed in front of his wife, two children, and parents by -- again -- individuals who had been arrested and deported multiple times. If Mr. Trump plans to "tell it like it is," then he should tell the facts. Border security is a federal responsibility. Period. But when it became clear that Washington, D.C., wouldn't act, I told President Obama that if he didn't secure the border, Texas would. As the former governor of Texas, a state with a 1,200-mile border with Mexico, I had to live and govern under the shadow of the federal government's decades-long failure to secure our borders. And rather than sit idly by while Washington, D.C., left our communities vulnerable to a porous border, I acted. During my time in office, I oversaw the dedication of nearly $1 billion to border-security efforts. I've overseen surge operations with our state law enforcement, the creation of Texas Ranger Recon teams, and I even deployed the Texas National Guard to the border region last summer. I signed a bill strengthening penalties for those who engage in human trafficking -- a bipartisan effort to put an end to the scourge of a modern-day slave trade that is enabled by our unsecured border. I also signed an executive order mandating the use of E-Verify for all state employees and contractors. By doing this, we ensured that people like Mr. Trump -- who has a history of using illegal-immigrant labor for his construction projects (including his new hotel currently under construction in Washington, D.C.) -- do not use taxpayer resources on illegal-immigrant labor. That is real, tangible action. Make no mistake: Contrary to what Mr. Trump seems to believe, Texas never should have had to do any of this, but we stepped in when the federal government failed. When it comes down to it, Mr. Trump and President Obama have similar records on border security. Neither seems to understand that it's the federal government's responsibility to secure our borders. Neither has taken the time to visit the border. Neither has paid any attention to the issue until it's become politically convenient. And most significantly, neither has put forward any thoughtful solutions to secure the border. Rather than thanking Texas for stepping into a gap it shouldn't have to fill, Mr. Trump has made clear that he believes the states should fend for themselves on border security. Rather than praising the men and women of the Texas Department of Public Safety, Texas National Guard, and Texas game wardens, Mr. Trump ridicules their tireless work to protect our communities. Not only is this wrong, but it perpetuates the same failed policies that have left our southern border porous and vulnerable. As I've said before, this will be a "show me, don't tell me" election. Our nation needs a thoughtful, experienced leader with the character, resolve, and will to rebuild what this nation has lost over the past six years. Mr. Trump has done nothing to prove that he is the man for the job.