Boehner: ACA 'on the table' in debt talks

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CINCINNATI, Nov. 21 (UPI) -- House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, says repeal of the Affordable Care Act "has to stay on the table" in talks on solving the nation's "massive debt challenge."

Boehner, who led several efforts during the current session of Congress to repeal the healthcare reform law, said after the Nov. 6 election it is "the law of the land," but he wrote in an op-ed published by the Cincinnati Enquirer Tuesday the law "is still driving up costs and making it harder for small businesses to hire workers. As was the case before the election, Obamacare has to go."

"The tactics of our repeal efforts will have to change," Boeher wrote. "But the strategic imperative remains the same. If we're serious about getting our economy moving again, solving our debt and restoring prosperity for American families, we need to repeal Obamacare and enact common-sense, step-by-step reforms that start with lowering the cost of health care.

Boehner called the Affordable Care Act "disastrous" and said it "adds a massive, expensive, unworkable government program at a time when our national debt already exceeds the size of our country's entire economy."

"We can't afford it, and we can't afford to leave it intact," he wrote. "That's why I've been clear that the law has to stay on the table as both parties discuss ways to solve our nation's massive debt challenge."

Boehner said Congress will use its oversight authority to repeal the ACA, because other avenues of repeal -- legal challenges and the presidential election -- have "come up short."

He noted specifically that the House Ways and Means Committee has issued a subpoena directing the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to "turn over any and all information regarding how taxpayer dollars have been used to promote Obamacare."

Politico recently reported the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee subpoenaed HHS for documents "to determine if funds from a Medicare Advantage demonstration program are being used improperly."