On the recordFebruary 1, 2012
We need to repeal this bad legislation. As Chairman of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, we looked into the CLASS Act and the actions of HHS. We issued a bicameral report on the failures of this fiscally reckless program. Some Senate Democrats expressed that they ``had grave concerns that the real effect of the [CLASS Act] would be to create a new federal entitlement with large, long-term spending increase that far exceed revenues.'' Perhaps the most damning indictment came from the Senate Budget Chairman who characterized CLASS Act as ``a ponzi scheme of the first order, the kind of thing that Bernie Madoff would have been proud of.'' This legislation is so fiscally unsound that even the Secretary of HHS has announced that she does ``not see a viable path forward for CLASS implementation at this time.'' This despite all her statements in support of CLASS when the Democrats were ramming Obamacare down our throat. Under CBO rules, the CLASS failure will cost American taxpayers $86 billion--the most recent CBO project of the supposed savings from the CLASS Act. However, if CLASS had gone into effect, it would have increased our deficit by the third decade. We need to repeal this fiscally unsound entitlement. We need to stop wasteful spending. We need to bring our country back to the path of fiscal responsibility and repealing CLASS is an important first step.
