Obama threatens to veto healthcare repeal

President Obama officially drew a line in the sand Thursday evening, threatening to veto House Republicans' attempt to repeal his landmark healthcare law.

In a statement of administration policy released by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the administration said that repeal would "would explode the deficit, raise costs for the American people and businesses, deny an estimated 32 million people health insurance, and take us back to the days when insurers could deny, limit or drop coverage for any American."

Using the preliminary budget numbers that Democrats seized upon on Thursday morning, OMB said a preliminary analysis said that repeal would raise the "deficit by $230 billion in the first decade and roughly one-half of one percent of GDP, or over a trillion dollars, in the second decade."

"Repealing the Affordable Care Act would not only increase deficits in the coming decade, but would also significantly worsen the long-term fiscal burdens on American businesses and families," OMB said.

"If the President were presented with H.R. 2, he would veto it," the statement said, emphasizing this with an underline.

On Wednesday, outgoing White House press secretary Robert Gibbs dismissed the Republican efforts as "a bit of huff and puff."

---