GOP committee chair starts in on 'vigorous oversight' of Obamacare

Rep. Charles Boustany (R-LA), chair of an oversight subcommittee, has been committed to Obamacare repeal. Since that failed in the last Congress, after nearly three dozen votes, he's going to try it by as many obnoxious oversight hearings as he can convene. The first one was Tuesday, investigating the tax provisions of the law. Or, more pointedly in GOP speak, the job-killing, tax-hiking socialist law.

Luckily, the ranking member of the committee, Rep. John Lewis, also gets to invite people to testify. So he invited Paul N. Van de Water, from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, who testified about some of the actual facts of the law. Like the fact that the CBO says the law will reduce the deficit, and that the taxes levied by it "not only raise revenue but are also sound health and tax policy."

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) will extend health insurance coverage to 27 million people and help assure that Americans have access to affordable coverage.  And it will do so in a fiscally responsible way.  In fact, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that health reform will reduce the deficit ' modestly in its first ten years, but substantially in the following decade. [...]

Some provisions will encourage consumers to be more cost-sensitive in purchasing health insurance and health care services. Among these provisions are the inclusion of the cost of employer-sponsored health coverage on W-2 forms, the excise tax on high-cost employer-sponsored coverage, and limitations on the use of tax-advantaged accounts to pay for health-related expenses.  [...]

Taken as a whole, the ACA will significantly strengthen our nation's economy.

Of course, strengthening the nation's economy is the last thing Boustany is interested in, not if it means people with high incomes will have to pay a smidgeon more in taxes. Also, too, socialism.