MIT professor Jonathan Gruber — who assisted congressional staffers in writing the bill — made such claims last year during an academic conference, but the video only became widely-viewed this week. He has since appeared on MSNBC to call the comments “inappropriate,” but did not deny his underlying point.
Thursday morning the White House told TPM that Gruber’s comments were “simply not true.” And according to Washington Post reporter Sean Sullivan, Pelosi has taken it a step further by dismissing Gruber’s role in the bill altogether:
According to the New York Times, however:
After Mr. Gruber helped the administration put together the basic principles of the proposal, the White House lent him to Capitol Hill to help Congressional staff members draft the specifics
of the legislation.
UPDATE — 11:49 a.m. ET: Back in 2009, Pelosi’s website cited Gruber on matters of health care policy, even coining the phrase “the Gruber analysis.” Though, to be fair, that’s her website; not her personally. More on Gruber’s connection to the bill here as well.
UPDATE — 12:24 p.m. ET: Watch video below of Pelosi stumbling through her dismissal of Gruber:
UPDATE — 1:08 p.m. ET: Pelosi directly mentioned Gruber during a 2009 press conference (H/T). Watch below:
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