Obama says health law has helped revive the economy

The president added that in the three years since Obamacare became law, “we’ve seen the slowest growth in healthcare costs on record,” which in turn will “boost our exports.” 

Obama made the comments as the White House Office of Management and Budget released a brief statement saying Obama would veto a House bill that aims to defund the healthcare reform law because the GOP effort “advances a narrow ideological agenda that threatens our economy and the interests of the middle class.” 

{mosads}For the second day in a row, President Obama aimed to rally the business community, as the White House prepares for two upcoming budget battles with Congress.
The most immediate is the debate over funding the government, but that will shortly be followed by the question of whether to raise the nation’s debt ceiling. 

Speaking to a group of corporate executives at the Business Roundtable, Obama slammed congressional Republicans, accusing them of an unprecedented effort to “extort” him. He insisted that he would not permit a situation “by which the full faith and credit of the United States becomes a bargaining chip.” 

Obama urged the CEOs at the roundtable to use “your influence in whatever way you can, to get back to what used to be called regular order around here.” He argued that hint of an “apocalypse every three months” was a drain on the U.S. economy. 

On Thursday, a few days after marking the five-year anniversary of the financial collapse with an ill-timed speech on the same day 12 people were killed in Washington, Obama returned to the subject, briefly saying, “we’re not yet where we need to be yet.” But he praised exports for being “one of the biggest bright spots in our economy.” 

“We now sell more goods overseas than ever before,” he said.