Fiorina: We Can’t Just Leave People ‘Hanging’ If SCOTUS Invalidates Subsidies

Potential GOP presidential candidate Carly Fiorina speaks at the Council Bluffs Public Library on Tuesday, April 21, 2015 in Council Bluffs, Iowa. (Joe Shearer/The Daily Nonpareil via AP)
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

People can’t just be left “hanging” if the Supreme Court invalidates federal Obamacare subsidies in a lawsuit challenging a key part of the healthcare law, former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina said Monday during a conference call with press.

In March, Supreme Court Justice John Roberts was conspicuously quiet during oral arguments in King v. Burwell, the case before the high court that’s threatening to cripple Obamacare through gutting the federal subsidies 7 million Americans receive through the law. Roberts is seen as a key swing vote in the case.

Fiorina said she thinks the government could help with block grants for healthcare “or other ways.”

“We need to push decision-making closer to the people affected by it. We need people to feel accountable. Regarding the upcoming Supreme Court decision, I know that we certainly cannot leave people hanging and I have confidence that they are working on a plan in Congress now,” Fiorina said. “I’m not sure if it is the plan that I would put forward, but I’m confident that they’re working on a plan.”

Republican lawmakers have been vowing to come up with an alternative should the high court invalidate the subsidies crucial to President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law. But interviews done with a dozen Republican lawmakers and aides by TPM earlier in the year suggested that they aren’t anywhere near to coming up with an alternative.

TPM reached out to Fiorina’s presidential campaign for more information on what alternative she would like to see.

Latest Livewire
28
Show Comments

Notable Replies

  1. Avatar for korvu korvu says:

    Clueless

  2. They were fine leaving them hangin before the ACA, what’s changed?

  3. Avatar for marby marby says:

    Yes, she is clueless . . . . on SO MANY levels.

  4. “We need to push decision-making closer to the people affected by it. We need people to feel accountable. Regarding the upcoming Supreme Court decision, I know that we certainly cannot leave people hanging and I have confidence that they are working on a plan in Congress now,” Fiorina said. “I’m not sure if it is the plan that I would put forward, but I’m confident that they’re working on a plan.”

    Fiorina, are you referencing all those HP and Lucent/Bell employees you and your decisions “left hanging?” Somehow, you got out of those ordeals with extra dough in your bank accounts … how’d that happen?

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

22 more replies

Participants

Avatar for system1 Avatar for lestatdelc Avatar for buckeyeborn Avatar for marby Avatar for mmurdoch Avatar for blue_grit Avatar for goethean Avatar for fargo116 Avatar for chammy Avatar for thunderhawk Avatar for jimtoday Avatar for thedebunkifier Avatar for jinx_tpm Avatar for mantan Avatar for callmeeric Avatar for dd40 Avatar for jimellis Avatar for korvu Avatar for harry_r_sohl Avatar for gr Avatar for okicu Avatar for emilianoelmexicano Avatar for beattycat Avatar for jinmichigan

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: