ObamaCare architect: I regret 'stupidity' of voter
comment
By Elise Viebeck - 11/11/14 01:48 PM EST
An architect of ObamaCare on
Tuesday said he regretted his 2013 comment that a "lack of
transparency" and the "stupidity of the American voter" helped
Congress pass the healthcare law.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology Professor Jonathan Gruber made his first public
comments on MSNBC after conservative media unearthed
a video clip over the weekend of him discussing the healthcare
law.
"The comments in the video were made at an academic
conference," Gruber said on "Ronan Farrow Daily." "I was
speaking off the cuff. I basically spoke inappropriately. I regret having made
those comments."
Gruber was speaking on a panel last year when he suggested
that ObamaCare passed because lawmakers and voters did not understand how its
financing worked.
"Lack of transparency is a huge political advantage,”
Gruber said at the time. "And basically, call it the stupidity of the
American voter or whatever, but basically that was really, really critical for
the thing to pass."
Gruber also said that ObamaCare was written in a
"tortured way" to avoid a bad score from the Congressional Budget
Office (CBO). And he suggested that voters would have rejected the law if
penalties for being uninsured were interpreted as a tax.
"If CBO scored the [individual] mandate as taxes, the
bill dies," Gruber said.
"If you had a law that made it explicit that healthy
people are going to pay in and sick people are going to get subsidies, it would
not have passed," he added.
The clip is generating significant attention on the right.
On Tuesday, Gruber said he only meant that much of
ObamaCare's financing was done through the tax code, calling that more
"politically palatable" than other means.
"That was the only point I was making," he said.
A consultant on both the federal and Massachusetts
healthcare reform laws, Gruber also predicted that 2015 exchange enrollments
will exceed the administration's target of 9.1 million.
"The administration is being conservative," he
said. "I believe the number is likely to be higher than that."
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
John M. Deutch is a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
and a life trustee at the Urban
Institute (think tank).
Note:
Foundation to Promote Open
Society was
a funder for the Urban Institute (think
tank), the Committee for Economic
Development, the Brookings
Institution (think tank), and the Carnegie Endowment for International
Peace (think tank).
George Soros was the chairman for the Foundation
to Promote Open Society.
Urban Institute (think tank) is a contractor for Obamacare.
Obamacare is Barack Obama’s signature policy initiative.
Barack Obama’s signature policy
initiative is Obamacare, Madelyn Payne Dunham was his maternal
grandmother, and was an intern at Sidley
Austin LLP.
Madelyn Payne Dunham was Barack Obama’s maternal grandmother, and an aircraft inspector for
the Boeing Company.
Barbara G. Fast was a VP at the Boeing Company, and a VP for the CGI Group Inc.
CGI Group Inc. was the Obamacare contractor that developed Healthcare.gov web site.
Obamacare is Barack Obama’s signature policy initiative.
Donna S. Morea was the EVP for the CGI Group Inc., and a trustee at the Committee for Economic Development.
Alan G. Spoon was a trustee at the Committee for Economic Development, and
is a member of the Corporation of the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Thomas P. Gerrity is a trustee at the Committee for Economic Development, and
was a member of the Corporation of the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Shirley Ann Jackson was a trustee at the Committee for Economic Development, and
is a life member of the Corporation of
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Carol A. Melton was a trustee at the Committee for Economic Development, and
is a director at the Economic Club of
Washington.
Robert G. Liberatore was a trustee at the Committee for Economic Development, and
is a director at the Economic Club of
Washington.
W. James McNerney Jr. is the chairman &
president & CEO for the Boeing Company, and a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago.
R. Eden Martin is the president of the Commercial Club of Chicago, and counsel
at Sidley Austin LLP.
Michelle Obama was a lawyer at Sidley Austin LLP.
Newton N. Minow is a senior counsel at Sidley Austin LLP, and a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago.
Valerie B. Jarrett is a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago, the senior
adviser for the Barack Obama
administration, and her great uncle is Vernon E. Jordan Jr.
Cyrus F. Freidheim Jr. is a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago, and an
honorary trustee at the Brookings
Institution (think tank).
Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer
& Feld, LLP is the lobby firm for the Boeing
Company.
Vernon E. Jordan Jr.
is a senior counsel for Akin, Gump,
Strauss, Hauer & Feld, LLP, Valerie B. Jarrett’s great uncle, a life trustee at the Urban Institute (think tank), an
honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), a director at the American
Friends of Bilderberg (think tank), was the president of the Economic Club of Washington, and a 2008
Bilderberg conference participant (think tank).
Urban Institute (think tank) is a contractor for Obamacare.
David M. Rubenstein is the president of the Economic Club of Washington, a co-chairman
for the Brookings Institution (think
tank), and a friend of Thomas E.
Donilon.
Thomas E. Donilon
is a friend of David M. Rubenstein,
was the White House deputy national security adviser for the Barack Obama administration, a director
at the American Friends of Bilderberg (think tank), a trustee at the Brookings
Institution (think tank), and
a 2008 Bilderberg conference participant (think tank).
Breene
M. Kerr was an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think
tank), and a life member
emeritus for the Corporation of the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Laura D'Andrea
Tyson was a trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), and a member of the Corporation of the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology.
Louis
W. Cabot is an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think
tank), and was a life
member emeritus for the Corporation of
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Shirley Ann
Jackson is a trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), and a life member of
the Corporation of the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology.
Corporation
of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is the governing body for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Jessica Tuchman Mathews was an honorary
trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), is the president of
the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank), a director
at the American Friends of Bilderberg (think tank), and a 2008 Bilderberg
conference participant (think tank).
Ed Griffin’s interview with
Norman Dodd in 1982
(The investigation into the
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace uncovered the plans for population
control by involving the United
States in war)
L. Rafael Reif is
a trustee at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank),
and the president of the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology.
John M. Deutch is a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
and a life trustee at the Urban
Institute (think tank).
Urban Institute (think tank) is a contractor for Obamacare.
Obamacare is Barack Obama’s signature policy initiative.
Lois Dickson Fitt is a life trustee at the Urban Institute (think tank), Susan E. Rice’s mother, and was a guest
scholar at the Brookings Institution
(think tank).
Susan E. Rice is Lois Dickson Fitt’s daughter, the White House national security
adviser for the Barack Obama
administration, a stockholder in the TransCanada
Corporation, and was a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution (think tank).
Senate Democrats Said to Consider Keystone Vote Soon
By
Kathleen Hunter and Jim Snyder Nov 12, 2014 8:45 AM PT
Senate Democrats are looking at taking a vote in the lame-duck
session starting today to force approval of TransCanada Corp. (TRP)’s Keystone XL
pipeline, in an effort to bolster Louisiana Democrat Mary Landrieu’s re-election
chances, a party aide said.
TransCanada Corporation is a proposed builder for
the Keystone XL pipeline.
Keystone XL pipeline requires approval from the U.S. Department of State.
John F. Kerry is the secretary at the U.S. Department of State for the Barack Obama administration, and
married to Teresa Heinz Kerry.
Teresa Heinz Kerry is married to John F. Kerry, an honorary trustee at
the Brookings Institution (think tank), a trustee at the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, and a life
trustee at the Carnegie Mellon University.
Andrew Carnegie was the founder of the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, the endowed
predecessor schools for the Carnegie
Mellon University,
and the founder of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think
tank).
L. Rafael Reif is a trustee at the Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace (think tank), and the president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
John M. Deutch is a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
and a life trustee at the Urban
Institute (think tank).
Urban Institute (think tank) is a contractor for Obamacare.
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