posted December 04, 2013 01:38 AM
The chairs of the Democratic Party and Republican Party duked it out over President Barack Obama's signature legislation, the Affordable Care Act, during an episode of CNN's Crossfire on Tuesday.Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) and Republican Reince Priebus, each the chair of their respective parties, challenged each other on Obamacare's provisions and the ramifications that the current health care fallout may have on the midterm elections for each party. When former House speaker and CNN host Newt Gingrich (R) asked Wasserman Schultz whether she expected members of her party to run on Obamacare despite its troubled rollout, she said they absolutely would.
"If you're asking me, are we going to have our candidates run on whether or not insurance companies should be able to drop people or deny them coverage for preexisting conditions, or that seniors should be able to get access to a wellness visit for free without a co-pay or deductible, or whether lifetime and annual caps should be reapplied to insurance policies, like Republicans would do, or whether or not breast cancer survivors like me should be able to get access to mammograms and colonoscopies and other preventative care, or whether or not women should be able to access birth control without ... If you're asking me whether or not our candidates are going to proudly run on delivering those things to the American people, absolutely," she said.
But Priebus had a hard time believing that all Democratic candidates -- especially those running in red states -- would be willing to run on the health care law.
"Which candidate that's running -- which candidate that's running for the United States Senate -- Kay Hagan, Landrieu, Mark Pryor, Begich -- tell me, which one of these candidates that's running in one of these big Senate races is going to -- is going to run on Obamacare?" he asked.
"Any of our candidates will be able to run on Obamacare," Wasserman Schultz said.
"Everyone is running on Obamacare," Priebus replied. "Perfect."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/04/debbie-wasserman-schultz-reince-priebus_n_4380951.html