Politics

GOP Report: Obama Administration Knew It Was Illegally Funding Obamacare Program

REUTERS

Daily Caller News Foundation logo
Juliegrace Brufke Capitol Hill Reporter
Font Size:

The Obama administration deliberately undermined the GOP’s investigation into potentially unlawful Obamacare payments, according to a joint report released by the Republicans on the House Committee on Ways and Means and House Committee on Energy and Commerce Thursday.

The 142-page report on the investigation alleges the administration had full knowledge it could not fund its “Cost Sharing Program” (CSP). This program was put in place under the Affordable Care Act to subsidize low-income Obamacare enrollees’ out-of-pocket costs, using federal dollars, yet the administration still opted to allocate funds without Congressional approval.

The findings show the administration initially requested $3.9 billion in appropriations for CSP in 2013, which was denied. The request was later withdrawn in 2014 — roughly $7 billion has since been spent on the program.

“The administration sought to withhold information from Congress by effectively claiming the deliberative process privilege,” the report says. “That privilege does not apply in this instance.”

The IRS raised questions on the legality of the payment to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which GOP lawmakers say was not properly handled, according to the report.

“After the IRS raised these concerns to OMB, OMB permitted the IRS officials to review its memorandum at the Old Executive Office Building,” the findings read. “At this meeting, OMB officials instructed the IRS officials not to take notes or take a copy of the memorandum with them.”

GOP members on the committee slammed the Department of Treasury, the Department of Health and Human Services and OMB for their failure to comply with multiple subpoenas.

“There is the stonewalling issue and there is the actual illegality of spending money that Congress didn’t approve, there is a specific statute, a violation and a punishment,” Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady told The Daily Caller News Foundation. “So I would say we keep our options going forward, it’s not just about this issue, it’s about any White House simply ignoring the Constitution for their pet project – and that’s got to end.”

Republicans said the agencies failed to provide any meaningful documents or — in the instance of the Department of Treasury — conduct the research necessary to provide the information requested.

Democrats dismissed the report, calling the findings “absurd” and an attack on the president’s landmark healthcare bill.

“House Republicans’ parallel ‘investigation’ into the cost-sharing reduction subsidies while suing the Administration on the very same matter made no sense from the start,” Ranking Members Sandy Levin and Frank Pallone said in a joint statement. “Clearly there is no end to the lengths Republicans will go to undermine the Affordable Care Act.”

“The next step is to continue to demand the documents that have been subpoenaed from all of the agencies, and in my view we are not going to stop until we get that information – the request is very reasonable, we have given them plenty of time to comply,” Brady told TheDCNF. “I think the White House is just hoping to run out the clock on this administration, but that’s not going to happen.”

Follow Juliegrace Brufke on Twitter

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel