Hensarling on CNBC's Squawk Box
House Republican Conference Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) appeared this morning on CNBC’s Squawk Box to discuss yesterday’s Supreme Court ruling on the president’s health care law.
Hensarling on the Supreme Court’s ruling on the president’s health care law:
“I have to respect what the Supreme Court said, but I respectfully and vehemently disagree with their conclusion and I think it's fraught with peril.
“Just because something is constitutional doesn't mean it's wise. The national debt is constitutional. Trillions of dollars in national debt is not wise.”
Hensarling on the House’s impending vote to repeal the president’s health care law:
“This is what's on the consciousness of the American people. It's clearly an issue that the American people care about. The Supreme Court was heard yesterday, and ‘the People's House’ will be heard the second week in July. And frankly, the people themselves who are sovereign will be heard on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.
“The Supreme Court … may have the last word on constitutionality, but, again, this now goes back into the legislative realm. People still care deeply about how their health care is going to be delivered. And frankly, a majority of the American people do not want a system that they believe is unaffordable, that will hurt job growth, and is going to interfere with the patient-doctor relationship. We'd be negligent if we didn't hold a vote.”
Hensarling on the uncertainty created by the president’s health care law:
“This is hurting jobs and the economy. The Chamber of Commerce recently did a survey of small business people; three-quarters of them said that the president's health care program is preventing them from hiring people. The Congressional Budget Office – run by a Democrat, I might add – they estimate this will cost close to a million jobs. Private economists: one to two million jobs.
“I talk to small business people in the Fifth Congressional District of Texas that I represent every day; they think this is a huge impediment to jobs. Quite the opposite, removing the president's health care plan, it would be good for the economy and jobs.”
Hensarling on the individual mandate upheld as a tax:
“I kind of feel like … my eight year-old handed in his test to his teacher, he got four problems wrong, but the teacher said, ‘Do you know what, you got them wrong, but I changed them for you, here's your 100.’
“The Supreme Court seemingly said that, yes, it is a slippery slope under the interstate commerce clause; you can't fine a person but you can, quote-unquote, ‘tax them,’ so we'll take your unconstitutional law and make it constitutional.
“I suppose if we don't eat broccoli on Tuesdays we can be taxed. If we don't join a health club, we can be taxed. It strikes me on the surface to be a rather frightening decision.”
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For additional information, contact:
House Republican Conference Press Office (conferencepress@mail.house.gov)
