Lawmaker: George Washington could not tell ‘lie’ that ObamaCare is ‘affordable’

Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) argued Thursday that the higher insurance premiums being created by ObamaCare would make it impossible for George Washington — known in part for the apocryphal saying he could not tell a lie — to call ObamaCare the “affordable” care act.

“Calling the Affordable Care Act the Affordable Care Act is not true,” King said on the House floor. “George Washington could not utter these words.

{mosads}”He might be able to say the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, because that’s technically the name for it,” King added. “But to utter those words and try to tell the American people it’s affordable by anybody is not true, and I don’t think George Washington could state that.”

King leveled the charge in a tense floor exchange with House Budget Committee ranking member Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.).

Van Hollen had just argued that an ObamaCare bill up Thursday in the House should be rejected because it would cost $74 billion over the next 10 years, and is not paid for. The bill would eliminate ObamaCare’s 30-hour-per-week definition of full-time employee.

Van Hollen said the cost of the bill would ruin the Republican promise to balance the budget over 10 years.

“If you pass this bill, the budget that was claimed to be balanced yesterday in the Budget Committee, is no longer in balance,” he said.

“It is a fraud to claim that the Republican budget balances and at the same time for Republicans to say they’re in favor of getting rid of all of the Affordable Care Act,” he added. “Both things cannot be true at the same time.”

King immediately took issue with Van Hollen’s use of the word “fraud.”

“People that have been the advocates for ObamaCare are using the word fraud?” he asked. King argued that supporters of ObamaCare have said the law would let people keep their doctors and their health plans, and lower costs.

“There’s not a single family in America that promise has been kept for, and then I hear the word ‘fraud’ from the other side of the aisle,” he said.