Recent Press Releases

HHS Finally Admits ‘Totally Unsustainable’ CLASS Act Cannot be Implemented

Flawed entitlement should be re-scored and repealed

October 14, 2011

WASHINGTON, D.C.--Senator John Thune today applauded the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for listening to Republican opposition and abandoning Obamacare's fatally flawed Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) Act.

"This is a victory for the American taxpayer and future generations. After ignoring repeated warnings from my Republican colleagues and me about the fiscal solvency of the CLASS Act, the Obama Administration jammed Obamacare through Congress in order to score a political win," said Thune. "Now, over a year later, the administration is finally admitting the CLASS Act entitlement is unsustainable and cannot be implemented. Simply setting aside the program for the near-term is not enough. Repeal is the only solution to ensuring American taxpayers will not be on the hook in the future for this disastrous entitlement.

"Now that the administration has publicly stated the CLASS office will close and the program will not move forward, the Congressional Budget Office should remove the $86 billion in fake savings from the books and Congress should repeal the provision once and for all."

Last month, Thune led a bicameral working group in releasing a report revealing the Obama Administration ignored repeated warnings about the financial solvency of the massive new entitlement and suppressed information on the viability of the program in the effort to achieve a political victory with the passage of the health care law.

The CLASS Act was rejected on a bipartisan basis last month when the Senate Appropriations Committee decided to provide no funding for the implementation of the program.

Thune has led the effort in the Senate to repeal the CLASS Act and has introduced legislation to achieve that goal.

Information about the Secretary's decision, including internal analysis of the CLASS program by HHS, can be found at: http://www.hhs.gov.

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