Treasury Refuses 'Invitation' to Explain Obamacare Delay...

(CNSNews.com) – Following an “eye-opening” subcommittee hearing Wednesday on the Obama administration’s decision to postpone the employer health care mandate, Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas) said lawmakers need to hear directly from the Treasury Department, which surprised most people when it announced the one-year delay in a July 2 blog.

“Clearly we need to get real answers also from the Treasury Department, and we will do so next week,” Brady said at the conclusion of the hearing of the House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee.

Brady said his subcommittee has “serious questions” about how and why such an “alarming decision” was made — and the effect that the year-long delay granted to businesses will have on other provisions of the law, including the requirement for individuals to purchase health insurance or else pay a tax:

“There are also questions about the unprecedented manner in which it was announced on an obscure Treasury blog site just two days before the 4th of July holiday. We invited Treasury officials to testify today to explain to the American people the rationale for the delay and how they announced this major setback. However, they declined to appear.” 

Brady called the Treasury Department’s announcement “strangely-timed.” 

“For the last several months, we’ve heard the White House repeatedly pledge to Congress and the American people that the president’s Affordable Care Act will be ready on schedule,” Brady, the subcommittee chair, said in his opening statement. “In fact, Secretary Kathleen Sebelius recently insisted before this very committee that the White House would not miss another Obamacare deadline. Not one, not again.

“Shortly thereafter, the nation learned in a blog post of the embarrassing failure by the White House to have this major pillar of the new law in place on schedule. The Treasury Department’s announcement confirms our concerns. Obamacare is simply not ready,” Brady said. Continue reading via CNS News…