House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) on Monday compared President Obama’s healthcare law to the failed lighting of the Olympic rings during the opening ceremony of the Winter Games.
Cantor was lamenting the announcement that the Obama administration was delaying the requirement for medium sized employers to offer healthcare insurance to their employees for another year.
“Another day, another delay,” Cantor tweeted with a picture showing an image similar to the failed ring lighting last Friday in Sochi, Russia, with the “O” from “ObamaCare” standing in for the malfunctioning ring.
At the Olympics, the five rings were supposed to expand from snowflakes and eventually interlock in the iconic symbol. However, one of the rings never expanded. In Russia, however, state television looped in video from the rehearsal, which made it appear the lighting went off correctly.
The Treasury department announced Monday that companies with between 50 and 99 employees would not be required to offer insurance to their employees until 2016 — delaying the measure for another year. Originally, the requirement was to take effect this year.
The new ruling would also allow companies with 100 or more employees to meet coverage requirement next year if they offer insurance to at least 70 percent of their staff. That number will bump up to 95 percent in 2016.
“The Administration has stressed this week that Congress can trust the president to enforce the law, and then once again, he selectively delays parts of ObamaCare in order to put off more negative consequences until after Election Day,” Cantor said in a statement.