- More from Famously...
- Famous Deaths
- Famous Arrests
View information about Jonathan Gruber's scandal here on famouslyscandalous.com Jonathan Gruber. You can view information about Jonathan Gruber's famous scandals and other celebrity scandals. You can view by name or by scandal type. We also have included the most popular famous scandals.
Jonathan Gruber's Scandals
- Jonathan Gruber
- Economist
- Autumn, 2014
The Jonathan Gruber "Stupid Americans" scandal:
Sometimes very smart people get caught on tape making very stupid comments.
Enter Jonathan Gruber, an economist at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
He worked as an advisor on the Affordable Care Act, (also known as Obamacare), the major overhaul of the U.S. Health Care System, proposed by President Barack Obama in 2009 and narrowly passed by Congress in a party-line vote by Democrats in the spring of 2010.
We will not debate the merits of the idea here. But it's been very controversial.
Like when the president promised:
Many Americans were angry and disappointed when they found that was not true for them.
But Mr. Gruber poured gasoline on the flames of discontent when he bragged about slipping the bill passed the public, saying American voters' stupidity helped get it done.
And when he was hauled in front of House Oversight and Government Reform Committee in December, 2014…
…he had to eat humble pie as he tried to walk back his statements…
…while being chastised by committee members from both sides of the aisle
He had this interchange with South Carolina Congressman Trey Gowdy.
There's little doubt the Affordable Care Act will remain controversial. And there's also little doubt that for millions of Americans, they feel they were lied to in the days leading up to its adoption.