GOP LEADER ALERT 9-21-09

REALITY CHECK: TEXT OF DEM HEALTH CARE BILL, PRESIDENT’S SENIOR ADVISORS REFUTE HIS ‘NO TAX INCREASE’ CLAIM

BILL TEXT CALLS INDIVIDUAL MANDATES A “TAX ON INDIVIDUALS WITHOUT ACCEPTABLE HEALTH CARE COVERAGE;” PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE OBAMA CALLED THEM A “VERY HARSH PENALTY”
September 20, 2009 | House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) | Permalink

Once again, President Obama’s health care rhetoric doesn’t match the reality of congressional Democrats’ costly government takeover of health care. On ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos yesterday the President repeatedly insisted that requiring Americans to buy government-approved health care does not constitute a tax increase, yet that is exactly what it says in the 1,018-page House bill. What’s more, the idea that an individual mandate is a tax on working families has been confirmed in earlier writings by senior Obama Administration officials. All told, H.R. 3200 contains roughly $820 billion in tax increases, according to the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation and the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) called on President Obama to “be straight with the American people” and admit that his health care plan requires significant tax increases:


“Once again, the President’s health care rhetoric doesn’t match reality. The massive tax increases working families will see under the Democrats’ costly government takeover of health care aren’t hidden in the fine print. The President should be straight with the American people and admit that his health care plan requires significant tax hikes in the middle of a deep recession. The President’s inability to meet his own standard of not repeating ‘bogus claims’ about health care reform is yet another indication it’s time to hit the reset button and start working together on a bipartisan plan the American people can support and afford.”



As the following shows, both the text of the House Democrats’ health care bill and President Obama’s own advisors have refuted his “no tax increase” claim: