Boustany Attacks CLASS Act In Ways And Means Hearing
Washington, DC – US Representative Charles W. Boustany, Jr. (R-Southwest Louisiana), a leading opponent of President Obama’s health-care law, today questioned Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius at a Ways and Means hearing. The hearing was held to discuss President Obama’s FY2012 budget, and its impact on the health-care law passed last year.
In her response, the HHS Secretary inaccurately claimed automatic enrollment was not part of the CLASS program. However, the law clearly requires the Secretary to work with the Treasury Department to establish procedures for Americans to be “automatically enrolled in the CLASS program by an employer.” (Section 3204, Enrollment and Disenrollment Requirements)
“The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the President’s own deficit commission both call for repeal of the program,” Boustany continued. “You recently announced a massive $93.5 million P.R. program targeting employers. What is your contingency plan if you cannot pressure enough employers to auto-enroll workers in a program Democratic Senator Kent Conrad calls a ‘Ponzi scheme?’” Secretary Sebelius agreed the present framework of CLASS was not sustainable. Today’s comments echo her previous comments about the CLASS ACT. Further, she admitted at today’s hearing she did not know how much the health-care law would cost.