GOP presses Obama adviser over reform improvements

“If just one provision in a bill that is over 2,000 pages long can cause that much damage, what else is in there?” Camp said.

Democrats, echoing a message from Obama’s address Tuesday night, accused Republicans of focusing on debates settled in the last Congress.

“My concern about the hearing is that it indeed will be re-fighting the battles of the last two years,” said Rep. Sandy Levin (D-Mich.)

Committee members during the morning session rehashed arguments over the Congressional Budget Office and Medicare actuary scores of the reform law, as well as the law’s impact on jobs.

Republicans used their new power to press Goolsbee over whether the penalty for not purchasing health insurance is actually a tax and whether the reform law will prevent businesses from hiring.

Goolsbee rejected the GOP premise that the reform law is a “job-killer,” saying 4 million small businesses will benefit from new tax credits for covering employees and that employees will have the healthcare security to retire earlier.