Chairman Black Says House GOP Committed to Repealing Obamacare, Building Sustainable Budget

WASHINGTON, Feb. 28 -- Rep. Diane Black, R-Tenn., chairman of the House Budget Committee, issued the following news release:

House Budget Committee Chairman Diane Black appeared on CNBC's "Squawk Box" and Bloomberg's "Daybreak: Americas" in her first national television appearances since becoming chairman. During the interviews, Chairman Black said that House Republicans are committed to repealing Obamacare and replacing it with patient-centered care, and that Congress will exercise the power of the purse to build a sustainable budget that works toward balance.

On building a sustainable budget:

"I will tell you from my perspective of being the budget chair, we're committed to moving forward with a balanced budget approach. We're going to be looking at things maybe a little differently than the president does, but that's our prerogative. We do have the power of the purse and not necessarily are our budgets going to look exactly the same. We're committed to moving forward with looking at trying to get some sustainability in our budgeting. ... I think that you'll see a very similar thing to what we've had in the past where we want to go into each one of these agencies and we want to take a look to see if the dollars are being used efficiently and where we can slim down. Obviously, headed into $20 trillion worth of debt. We can't continue to grow at that pace. So it is up to the budget and the Budget Committee members to come out with a plan that shows we can get our budget in order and that it's sustainable."

Click here to watch the full CNBC interview (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruPtFDM60hU&feature=youtu.be).

On Obamacare repeal and replace:

"I think we are heading towards a solution for that. We want to rescue the people from this broken health care system, so I think in short order, we are going to be putting some things out to show the people that we are serious about putting a patient-oriented system in place. ... We are working on that really hard. I want to make certain people understand we are 40 days into this new administration, so we are working hard to make sure we get this done right. But we don't want to do something so quickly that it is not done properly as what was done with Obamacare. Given a little bit of time, making sure we are working with each part of it for the best of the American people is what we want to do."

Click here to watch the full Bloomberg interview (https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/videos/2017-02-28/rep-black-says-tax-reform-comes-after-obamacare).

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