WASHINGTON — Less than an hour after the Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act health insurance subsidies nationwide, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi said she was “jubilant” over the result while House Speaker John Boehner said that President Barack Obama’s signature health care law is still “fundamentally broken.”
“It is raising costs for American families. It is raising costs for small businesses,” said Boehner. “We are going to continue our efforts to do everything we can to put the American people back in charge of their own health care.”
When asked how Republicans would continue to fight the bill, Boehner wouldn’t say whether he would use reconciliation or attachments to spending bills to derail the law’s progress.
“It’s a victory for common sense; for all American families,” said Pelosi at her weekly press briefing. “The Republicans have failed in their assault on newfound health security that the Affordable Care Act is providing.”
Pelosi stressed that this was the second time the high court upheld what’s come to be known as Obamacare, calling it an “All-American decision.”
Shortly after Pelosi and Boehner spoke, the House passed the Trade Preferences Extension Act of 2015, an agreement that Pelosi and other pro-labor Democrats initially opposed.
But in her news briefing, Pelosi said she was not prepared to concede defeat on a deal she likened to the North American Free Trade Agreement.
“I voted for NAFTA,” Pelosi said. “I’m not proud of that vote.”
Meanwhile, Boehner focused on the upcoming White House deadline for the Iran nuclear talks.
“Despite getting virtually nothing in return, the president has handed Iran concession after concession,” said Boehner. “We are about to get stuck with a bad deal, with a bad regime. This is not good for America and certainly not good for our allies around the world.”
Boehner was also asked about a bill sent to the floor that would maintain a ban to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s ability to study guns as a public health issue.
“The CDC is there to look at diseases that need to be dealt with to protect the public health,” said Boehner. “I’m sorry but a gun is not a disease.”
Boehner used the old adage that “Guns don’t kill people. People do.”
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