PPACA: The Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act

The Cantor bill reads as follows:

A BILL

To repeal the job-killing health care law and health care-related provisions in the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the "Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act".

SEC. 2. REPEAL OF THE JOB-KILLING HEALTH CARE LAW AND HEALTH CARE-RELATED PROVISIONS IN THE HEALTH CARE AND EDUCATION REC4 ONCILIATION ACT OF 2010.

(a) JOB-KILLING HEALTH CARE LAW.–Effective as of the enactment of Public Law 111-148, such Act is repealed, and the provisions of law amended or repealed by such Act are restored or revived as if such Act had not been enacted.

(b) HEALTH CARE-RELATED PROVISIONS IN THE HEALTH CARE AND EDUCATION RECONCILIATION ACT OF 2010.–Effective as of the enactment of the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (Public Law 111-152), title I and subtitle B of title II of such Act are repealed, and the provisions of law amended or repealed by such title or subtitle, respectively, are restored or revived as if such title and subtitle had not been enacted.

Republicans would exempt the Cantor bill from the House Republicans' new budget discipline rules, which will require that most legislation be fully paid for.

The Congressional Budget Office has predicted that the Affordable Care Act will reduce the deficit by $143 billion through 2019.

Republicans on the House Rules Committee also have posted a resolution that calls for the development of an alternative health reform plan.

The resolution directs House committees to produce legislation that replaces the previous "job-killing" approach, fosters economic growth and private sector job creation, lowers health care premiums and increases the number of insured Americans.

The bills should not "accelerate the insolvency of

entitlement programs or increase the tax burden on Americans," according to the resolution.

Analysts at Washington Analysis, Washington, say in a note to investor that they are skeptical about how successful Republicans will be at repealing the Affordable Care Act or derailing development of the rules needed to implement the package.

The analysts also question whether Republican efforts to withhold funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will have much effect on Affordable Care Act implementation.

"President Obama and Senate Democrats will go to the mat to protect their legacy from significant cuts or riders that would bar the agencies from writing and carrying out regulations, and while it's true that the Congressional Budget Office estimates that HHS will need between $5 billion and $10 billion over 10 years, most of this won't be needed until the major components of reform start in 2014," the analysts say.

Even if Congress trims HHS appropriations in fiscal year 2011 and fiscal year 2012, HHS can move funds in its budget around and use already-appropriated funding streams, the analysts say.

Three Democrats who took the lead in developing the House health care proposal in 2009 — Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., retiring chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee; Rep. Sander Levin, D-Mich., retiring chairman of the Ways and Means Committee; and Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., retiring chairman of the Education and Labor Committee — are blasting the scheduling of the Cantor bill vote in a letter addressed to House Republicans.

"It is insincere to run on a platform of openness and fiscal discipline and then in one of your first acts as the majority party bring major legislation to the floor without any public hearings and without paying for the trillion dollar cost of repeal," the Democrats say.

Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., who will take over Wednesday as chairman of one of the House Education and Labor Committee, says repealing the Affordable Care Act would fulfill Republicans' pledge to repeal and replace the act.

"For more than a year Washington pursued a government takeover of health care despite rising unemployment, unsustainable federal deficits, and overwhelming public opposition," Kline says. "The new Congress will make job creation and fiscal responsibility top priorities, and repealing ObamaCare is an important part of our efforts."

Rep. Pete Stark, D-Calif., who has been chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee health care subcommittee for the past 4 years, says the Republicans' "NoCare plan" would "raise the number of uninsured by 32 million, balloon the deficit, raise health care costs for seniors, and raise taxes on small businesses that provide health care for their employees."

"No wonder they want to skirt their own rules to jam this bill through," Stark says.

A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., says Cantor "is laying the groundwork for Republicans' extremist agenda of shutting down the government, raising taxes on small businesses, and telling seniors they're on their own by re-opening the Medicare donut hole."

"Republicans are also showing their hypocrisy on fiscal responsibility yet again by trying to roll back measures that will cut the deficit by $143 billion with no plan to pay for it," the spokesman says.