Independent CBO Says Health Care Law Will Destroy 800,000 Jobs
Congressional Budget Office (CBO) Director Douglas Elmendorf confirmed for the House Budget Committee today that the Democrats’ health care law is a job-destroyer. When asked by Rep. John Campbell (R-CA) to clarify that ObamaCare will stifle job creation, Elmendorf testified that the health care law will reduce the number of full-time jobs by 800,000. Watch him here:
- CAMPBELL: You just mentioned that you believe—or that in your estimate, that the health-care law would reduce the labor used in the economy by about one half of one percent. Given that, I believe you say, there’s 160 million full-time people working in 2021, that means that, in your estimation, the health-care law would reduce employment by 800,000 in 2021. Is that correct?
ELMENDORF: Yes. The way I would put it is that we do estimate, as you said, that household employment will be about 160 million by the end of the decade. Half a percent of that is 800,000.
Today’s testimony by the head of the CBO, Congress’ independent nonpartisan scorekeeper, echoes testimony from small business owners and experts who say ObamaCare is making it impossible to invest and hire new workers. A group of 200 economists agreed that the health care law’s maze of mandates, tax hikes, and penalties pose “a barrier to job growth.”
In order to create a better environment for economic growth, the new House majority is working to remove barriers to job creation that are causing uncertainty for small businesses. That’s why Republicans kept their pledge, and voted to repeal the ObamaCare law (as supported by a majority of likely voters, according to Rasmussen) and start over with common-sense reforms that will lower costs and protect jobs. And it’s why the new majority is working to rein in red tape and job-crushing regulations – like those found in ObamaCare – by requiring Congressional approval for major federal rules.
As Speaker Boehner said today, to help create new jobs we need to “liberate our economy from big government and runaway spending and endless regulation that comes with it.” Read more here.