Committee Votes to Repeal Controversial CLASS Program

Press Release

The House Energy and Commerce Committee, chaired by Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI), today approved H.R. 1173, the Fiscal Responsibility and Retirement Security Act of 2011, which repeals the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports Program, by a vote of 33 to 17. On October 14, 2011, the Obama administration halted implementation of CLASS, a controversial long-term entitlement program included in President Obama's health care law. However, despite the administration's admission that the program is unworkable, the program remains on the books.

"None of us was surprised when HHS announced that it could not implement the CLASS program. Well before it was signed into law, actuaries and policy experts questioned the viability of the program, but it made it into the healthcare law anyway, giving the false impression that the law cost $80 billion less than it actually did," said Upton. "I believe we have to start over on long-term care reform--an issue that will affect millions of Americans as they or a loved one need care. But first, we must erase a program that we know will not work; a program that was never structured to work, and that we could never afford."

Earlier this year, the committee, along with colleagues in the House and Senate, investigated the developments of the CLASS program. Click here to read the investigative report or click here to watch a video that documents early warnings that were ignored and the eventual admission from the Obama administration that CLASS is unsustainable.

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