Washington, DC – Congressman Brett Guthrie (KY-02) voted Wednesday, April 13, 2011, to repeal Health and Human Services' $17.75 billion prevention and public health fund contained within the health care law. The repeal passed the House and will now move onto the Senate for consideration.
Washington, DC – Congressman Brett Guthrie (KY-02) voted Wednesday, April 13, 2011, to repeal Health and Human Services’ $17.75 billion prevention and public health fund contained within the health care law. The repeal passed the House and will now move onto the Senate for consideration.
During a hearing in March before the Energy and Commerce Committee’s Health Subcommittee, of which Congressman Guthrie is a member, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius confirmed that HHS has unlimited authority to spend money in this fund, using it for virtually any purpose described as benefiting prevention and public health.
“The Secretary said there are no limits for how much can be spent under this provision and she has no need for additional Congressional authority, which is unprecedented and skips the needed oversight to ensure that funds are used effectively and efficiently,” Congressman Guthrie said. “Repealing these funds is fiscally responsible and would not harm any current prevention efforts.”
“Programs such as this, hidden in the two-thousand page health care law, just highlight why we need to replace the Obama/Pelosi health care law with something that focuses on controlling the rising cost of health care,” Congressman Guthrie said.
The law provides $17.75 billion for the next ten years (FY 2012-2021) and continues to appropriate $2 billion per year after 2015 with no end date.
In a March 30 hearing, Congressman Guthrie questioned Congressional Budget Office (CBO) Director Doug Elmendorf on the CBO’s estimates that this fund would only cost $2 billion per year, when the Secretary herself asserted that the fund was limitless and another member of the administration has said these funds can be used for an array of secondary purposes.
As part of an ongoing effort by the new Majority in the House to repeal and replace the health care law, Congressman Guthrie has joined his colleagues in voting to repeal the heath care law in full and the 1099 reporting requirement contained within the health care law.
