Politics

Harry Reid won’t say if Obamacare mandate is a tax [VIDEO]

Nicholas Ballasy Senior Video Reporter
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Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid wouldn’t say if he agrees with the Supreme Court ruling that the individual mandate in the health care law is constitutional as a tax.

“I’m not here to give everyone my limited knowledge of constitutional law. I am here to say that the law has been upheld,” Reid told The Daily Caller Thursday at the Capitol. “It’s good for the country. It’s good for my people in Nevada.”

“It’s something that now we can look at, I don’t have to worry about a child that’s born with a cleft pallet. I don’t have to worry about a child who shortly after birth develops diabetes or as the kids that came to see me today have cystic fibrosis that develops,” he continued. “I don’t have to worry about them anymore and very, very soon all adults, not just those that are under age of 18 will be entitled to insurance even though they have a pre-existing disability.”

In 2009, President Obama told ABC News that the individual mandate requiring all Americans to purchase health insurance is not a tax. House Minority Leader told The Daily Caller earlier Thursday that the question about whether the individual mandate is a tax is “Washington talk” that doesn’t matter to Americans. (RELATED: Obamacare becomes Obamatax)

“The people can stay on their parents insurance policy, 6 or 7 million of them, are benefiting from this law,” Reid said. “The millions and millions of senior citizens who are having the donut hole filled because of what we did in this health care law. Millions of these senior citizens now can get wellness checks that they could never do before so I’m not about here to give you all a dissertation on constitutional law. The law has been withheld [upheld], and I’m very happy it has been.”

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