GOP leader criticizes Obama for opposing repeal of healthcare act

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Wednesday criticized President Obama for opposing the GOP effort to repeal a key portion of the 2010 healthcare law. 

McConnell noted in his criticism on the Senate floor that the Obama administration itself decided the program is not financially viable.

The House today is expected to vote to repeal the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) program, a voluntary, long-term health program that the Department of Health and Human Services said in October had no viable path forward.

{mosads}”Yet for some reason, the president is unwilling to follow through on that conclusion by his own administration,” McConnell said on the Senate floor. “He opposes today’s vote over in the House.

“Despite admitting this program is doomed to fail, the Obama administration refuses to take it off the books.”

McConnell speculated that Obama’s opposition to the bill is based on his determination that to win reelection in November, Obama must continue blaming the prior administration for the weak economic recovery.

“The president is so determined to distract people from his own legislative record that he doesn’t even want to have a conversation about it,” McConnell said. “He’s so determined, so determined to convince people that the ongoing economic crisis is somebody else’s fault, that he’s acting as though the first three years of his presidency never even happened.”

McConnell added that the administration’s continued support for a non-viable program runs counter to Obama’s claim that he is willing to listen to people who have ideas about how to improve the 2010 healthcare law.

“This refusal is all the more remarkable given the fact that President Obama has repeatedly said that he is willing to listen to critics of his healthcare bill if they come up with ways to improve it,” he said. “When it comes to the CLASS Act, the president doesn’t even appear willing to listen to himself.”