Representative Kelly Votes to Repeal ObamaCare Slush Fund, Saving Taxpayers $17.75 Billion
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | Contact: Julia Thornton |
April 13, 2011 | 202-525-0182 |
Representative Kelly Votes to Repeal ObamaCare Slush Fund, Saving Taxpayers $17.75 Billion
Washington, D.C. — U.S. Representative Mike Kelly (PA-03) voted today to repeal the Prevention and Public Health Fund (H.R. 1217), also known as the Sebelius Slush Fund, a $17.75 billion prevention and public health fund created as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), President Obama’s signature trillion-dollar health care legislation. PPACA provides $17.75 billion over the next ten years (FY 2012-2021) to be administered by the secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, a position currently held by Kathleen Sebelius. Under the law, the secretary is authorized to spend funds without any further Congressional approval and, since no strings are tied to the funds, the money could be used for anything described as benefiting prevention and public health. Representative Kelly issued the following statement on H.R. 1217, which passed the House by a vote of 236 to 183:
“The American people deserve a government that is held accountable for how it spends the people’s money. This slush fund flies in the face of transparency and accountability, handing over the constitutionally mandated powers of the purse strings from the Congress and putting them in the hands of an unelected bureaucrat. This health care law, with its budget gimmicks and hidden fees, is finally being exposed for what it really is: woefully bad policy that is going to add to our deficit and grow the size of government to an unprecedented level. We need government reform, not growth, and today’s vote was another attempt to defund ObamaCare and stop this massive government takeover of our health care sector.”
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