At a House Oversight Committee hearing on Wednesday, Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) asked Dr. Ben Carson about his comments on the Affordable Care Act.
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00:00I'll turn to Mr. Christomorthy to ask his question.
00:04Thank you, Mr. Chair.
00:07Good morning, Mr. Edwards.
00:09The title of this hearing is, quote, examining the growing welfare state.
00:14And I actually have an article here which talks about cutting corporate welfare.
00:20You remember this article, right?
00:21And in this article it says, one ripe area for reform is corporate welfare, which a new Cato study estimates costs the federal budget $181 billion a year.
00:35That's what you said, right, in this article?
00:37Absolutely.
00:38And your study helpfully breaks down the number $181 billion by agency and program, right?
00:48That's right.
00:49Unfortunately, however, H-Con Res 14, this is the Republican House Budget Resolution, does not use your study, believe it or not, to find savings.
01:01For example, you've identified subsidies to different corporations, but this particular budget resolution doesn't actually use your study or any study to cut those subsidies.
01:14You don't dispute that, right?
01:15No, right.
01:16I think Congress should cut corporate welfare and low-income welfare.
01:20Well, let me talk about corporate welfare for a second and what this particular budget resolution tries to do.
01:27H-Con Res 14 targets social safety net programs.
01:31It directs the Energy and Commerce Committee, which oversees the Medicaid program, to cut $880 billion from its budget.
01:40You don't dispute that, right?
01:41I haven't looked in detail, but I assume that's right.
01:45Additionally, H-Con Res 14 directs the Ag Committee, which oversees SNAP, to cut $230 billion from its budget.
01:54You don't dispute that, right?
01:55Right.
01:56When I was young, I relied on the food stamp program, which was the predecessor to SNAP, and it was critical for my family.
02:04And I believe that cutting food aid is just plain wrong.
02:08Let me turn to another topic.
02:10Dr. Carson, you said the following.
02:15Obamacare is really the worst thing that has happened in this nation since slavery.
02:20You don't dispute you said that, right, sir?
02:22I don't dispute that.
02:24Well, let's look at the facts.
02:26Obamacare is really the Affordable Care Act, or the ACA.
02:29In 2024, the government reported that over 65 million people have health insurance because of the ACA.
02:36You don't dispute that, right, sir?
02:38What I am making a point, and when I said that, is that all of the socialists and the Marxists say that socialized medicine is the linchpin to providing socialism throughout the entire system.
02:56And that is a system that moves us much closer to socialized medicine.
03:00Well, let me ask you this.
03:03The ACA prohibits health insurance companies from refusing coverage for preexisting conditions.
03:09You don't dispute that, right?
03:12I would have to have a little more context than you just gave.
03:17Well, believe me, the ACA prohibits health insurance companies from refusing coverage for people with preexisting conditions.
03:25It also allows children to stay on their parents' health plans until the age of 26.
03:32You know, it doesn't sound like the catastrophe that you paint it to be akin to slavery.
03:39On the contrary, the ACA isn't keeping people down.
03:42It's lifting people up.
03:44And I find your prior comments about Obamacare being the worst thing since slavery really appalling.
03:51Mr. Dutta Gupta, right now, according to Realtor.com, the U.S. has a shortage of nearly 4 million homes causing a housing crisis, right?
04:01Yes.
04:02In addition, since Donald Trump took office, the Bureau of Labor Statistics found that price hikes for food have accelerated, correct?
04:11Yes.
04:11The Wall Street Journal also found that new Trump tariffs are expected to cost American households at least $2,100 annually.
04:22You don't dispute that, right?
04:24I believe it's an analysis from the budget lab at Yale, but yes.
04:27The affordable housing crisis is squeezing families today, and these new tariffs will make everything from rent to groceries even more unaffordable, unfortunately.
04:39Let me turn to Dr. Carson.
04:43Dr. Carson, you did not live in public housing, right?
04:47That's correct.
04:48I spent part of my childhood in Section 8 housing.
04:51This is actually a picture of the public housing that I lived in.
04:55It gave my family the stability we needed to work, breathe, and build a new life, and my parents were actually married.
05:03My family story is not unique, sir.
05:06HUD found that for every year a woman spends in public housing as a teenager, she generated $925 additionally in adult earnings than someone with unsteady housing.
05:19You don't dispute that, right?
05:21Well, the issue is not whether public housing is helpful or not.
05:25The issue is are there things that we can do to improve the situation and to make people more likely to exit from public housing.
05:33Real success is the number of people we can get off of assistance, not how many we can put on it.
05:38I agree with you 100%.
05:40I exited public housing, sir.
05:43My family exited public housing.
05:45We moved to Peoria, Illinois.
05:47We entered the middle class, and I sit before you as a United States congressman.
05:52That is the hallmark of a successful program.
05:55That's good.
05:56Thank you, and I yield back.
05:58Unfortunately, that doesn't happen for everybody.