Republican lawmaker smells a ‘big, fat rat’ in ObamaCare implementation delay

Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.) said he smells a “big, fat rat” in the Obama administration’s delay on a key part of its healthcare bill.

{mosads}”I smell a big fat rat. Not just a little rat,” Gingrey said on Fox News on Friday.

The congressman, a doctor and leading ObamaCare critic who’s running for the Senate, said the move to delay a mandate requiring large employers to provide healthcare insurance until 2015, rather than 2014, was done solely to give red-state Democrats cover in the 2014 midterm elections.

“You know, in 2010 the Democrats in Congress pushed the enforcement of the employee mandate back to 2014… conveniently until after the presidential election. So, now under the cover of Independence Day holidays, they’re pushing it back again. But this time, out of fear of its disastrous consequences and the impact on the midterm elections. And this decision was not made in the best interest of the people, I can assure you.”

Many Republicans — and some Democrats — say that the move to delay implementing the healthcare law’s employer mandate appears to be politically motivated rather than driven by policy, though there’s disagreement within both parties about whether it will help or hurt Democrats in the long run.

Gingrey points out that that portion of the law is much “simpler to enforce and enact” than others, including the healthcare exchanges set to come online this fall.

“Now they are going to delay it another year conveniently to get past these midterm elections,” he says. “I think it reeks of hypocrisy.”