House Speaker Paul D. Ryan said Tuesday that the Congressional Budget Office score on the health care bill is misleading.
“What they’re basically saying at the Congressional Budget Office is if you’re not going to force people to buy Obamacare, if you’re not going to force people to buy something they don’t want, then they won’t buy it. So it’s not that people are getting pushed off a plan, it’s that people will choose not to buy something they don’t like or want,” Mr Ryan said on Fox News.
“And that’s the difference here. By repealing the individual and employer mandate, which mandates people buy this insurance that they can’t afford and don’t like, if you don’t mandate that they don’t do this then many people won’t do it,” he said.
Mr. Ryan said other issues in Congress also need to take a priority in the months ahead, adding that members will not be distracted by the various investigations concerning the Trump campaign, Russia and the 2016 election.
“We were elected to solve people’s problems, to improve people’s lives. Fixing health care is a big part of that, but it also means we’ve got to move on to these other issues,” he said.
“I think the key is don’t get distracted — what we do in Congress is we’re not distracted by other issues. We’re focused on doing our jobs. Most of the media wants to focus on the investigations, those are important, those are getting done, those don’t incapacitate us,” Mr. Ryan said.
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He said that if Congress can stick to its campaign promises, it’ll be “the most productive presidency and Congress in our lifetime.”
• Sally Persons can be reached at spersons@washingtontimes.com.
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