WASHINGTON, DC - House Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) released the following statement after the House approved H.R. 1213, a bill he authored to repeal the unlimited spending power created under the health care law to provide grants to states for various activities related to health insurance exchanges. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimates the bill will reduce the deficit by $14.4 billion.
“This bill is part of our effort to restore fiscal accountability to the federal government. In a rush to ram through health care reform, Congress gave the Secretary of Health and Human Services a blank check with unprecedented new authority. The only real restriction on this unlimited appropriation is the secretary’s imagination.
“Congress should never have given an agency an unprecedented tap on the federal treasury. Repealing this slush fund will protect precious taxpayer resources at a time of record red ink," said Upton.
