White House vows veto of bill carving IRS out of ObamaCare rollout

The White House pledged Wednesday afternoon to veto House legislation that would bar the IRS from implementing any part of ObamaCare.  

A statement of policy from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) comes ahead of an expected vote on the “Keep the IRS Off Your Health Care Act” and derides the bill as yet another in a series of attempts by the House GOP to scrap the president’s signature healthcare law.

“Rather than attempting once again to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which the House has tried nearly 40 times, it is time for the Congress to stop fighting old political battles and join the President in an agenda focused on providing greater economic opportunity and security for middle class families and all those working to get into the middle class,” the White House said.

The bill, introduced by Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.), would prohibit the Treasury Department from enforcing any provision of the law. The IRS, which is housed in the Treasury, is responsible for drafting many regulations required by the 2010 law. Among them is the contentious employer mandate requiring companies with 50 or more employees to provide insurance for their workers or pay a penalty.

The administration came under criticism following its decision this month to delay the employer mandate for a year, while demanding other regulations remain on schedule.

“As we’ve seen in recent announcements from the White House, the Obama Administration is clearly unable to manage the implementation of its own health care law,” Price said in a statement. “We’ve also learned that the IRS is clearly unable to prudently and impartially enforce current law.”

The White House said the bill would prohibit implementation of the tax credits that are key to the president’s plan to make healthcare cheaper.

“At a time when the Congress should be increasing small business tax credits to help make health insurance more affordable, this legislation would take them away,” the White House said.