January 10, 2011
As House Republicans begin their challenge of the Obama health care law you're going to hear a lot of numbers tossed around and many claims made.
Democrats provided numbers to the Congressional Budget Office that produced results about jobs gained and costs supposedly reduced by the new law. But CBO only draws conclusions based on what it receives from members of Congress and the Democrat's numbers are wishful thinking at best.
The new House Republican leadership quotes a study by the National Federation of Independent Businesses which found that an employer health insurance mandate could eliminate 1.6 million jobs by 2014 with 66 percent of those coming from small businesses. Former Speaker Pelosi had claimed 400,000 jobs would be created "almost immediately" under the law.
Fewer jobs and higher taxes are just two of the objections by Republicans to the new law which they have promised to retool or eliminate and replace with market-oriented legislation. Please, read the House Republicans' report. You'll find a link on the speaker's web page.
Cal Thomas is a nationally syndicated columnist based in Washington, D.C.
