WASHINGTON — House Speaker John Boehner yesterday vowed to forge ahead with repeal of President Obama’s health-care laws, brushing aside a government report showing repeal would increase the federal deficit by $230 billion over the next decade.
Boehner (R-Ohio) said the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office is “entitled to their opinion.”
“I do not believe that repealing the job-killing health-care law will increase the deficit,” he said, citing faults in the accounting and contradictory reports from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid.
Democrats touted the CBO report — which also estimated 32 million fewer people would have health insurance without the law — as evidence Republicans were already breaking their promise to cut the $1.3 trillion deficit.
In a show of resolve to cut spending to 2008 levels, the Republican-led House yesterday cut its own budget by 5 percent, saving about $35 million.
Debate on the health-care repeal is set to start today, with a vote scheduled for Wednesday. It should easily pass the House, but isn’t expected to pass the Senate.