On MSNBC, Wednesday morning, Politico health care reporter Jennifer Haberkorn quipped that the White House would love it if Jonathan Gruber would just stop talking and added that they would probably put a gag order on him if they could.
House Republicans, on the other hand, are reportedly buzzing about hauling Gruber before Congress so he can talk some more.
Who wouldn’t love to see the personification of liberal arrogance that is Jonathan Gruber, answer some questions from Republican firebrands like Jim Jordan and Trey Gowdy a House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing?
Via Robert Costa and Jose A. DelReal of the Washington Post:
“We may want to have hearings on this,” said Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), an influential voice among GOP hardliners and a member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, in an interview at the Capitol. “We shouldn’t be surprised they were misleading us.”
We should be a little surprised at how openly he bragged about it, though.
The controversy has lit a fire under conservatives eager to dismantle the law and has raised eyebrows among the law’s defenders, who are concerned that such comments will further damage the law’s already shaky standing with American voters. It also comes after a sweeping electoral victory for Republicans last Tuesday, who won control of the Senate and bolstered the size of their majority in the House.
Jordan said House Republicans have been sending each other a blizzard of e-mails and text messages this week, and he expects the interest in “bringing [Gruber] up here to talk” will gain traction as members return to Washington. House Republicans will gather Thursday evening for their first series of votes since the election.“I just had a colleague text me saying, ‘We’ve got to look into this!” Jordan said as he glanced at his phone outside the House floor Wednesday morning.
There’s no doubt that Jonathan Gruber is the last man the White House wants near a microphone on Capitol Hill, right now.