Wash. Times Runs With Distortion That Health Care Law Will Kill 800,000 Jobs

In a February 11 editorial, The Washington Times misrepresented testimony from CBO director Doug Elmendorf to claim, “Obamacare's casualties: 800,000 jobs.” In fact, as Media Matters has noted, CBO said the law will “reduc[e] the amount of labor that workers choose to supply, and as health expert Paul Van De Water stated, ”If people voluntarily choose to reduce their hours of work ... that's not killing jobs."

From the Times' editorial, titled, “Obamacare's casualties: 800,000 jobs”:

Repeal of Obamacare ought to be a priority not only on constitutional grounds, but also as a move essential to pulling our economy out of its malaise. The head of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) let slip the reason why in testimony Thursday before the House Budget Committee. Over the course of a decade, the tax hikes and increased costs of government's health care takeover would take a big toll on the job market. “If the reduction in the labor used was workers working the average number of hours in the economy and earning the average wage, there would be a reduction of 800,000 workers,” CBO Director Douglas W. Elmendorf predicted.