The White House launched a swift damage control effort Tuesday after a congressional watchdog suggested President Barack Obama's health care law would mean the equivalent of more than two million fewer jobs.
The report by the Congressional Budget Office offered fresh ammunition to gleeful Republicans who said it proved their long-held argument that Obamacare, which they have repeatedly tried to repeal, would "kill" jobs.
But the White House argued that the data in the report was being misinterpreted and said that claims the Affordable Care Act would turf people out of work were simply not borne out by the facts, even those in the report.
"Claims that the Affordable Care Act hurts jobs are simply belied by the facts in the CBO report," White House spokesman Jay Carney said in a statement, which appeared just before the White House conducted a hurriedly organized call for reporters.
"Since the Affordable Care Act passed into law in March 2010 the private sector has added 8.1 million jobs," Carney said.
"That is the strongest 45-month job growth since the late 1990s and contrasts with the 3.8 million private sector jobs lost in the decade before the Affordable Care Act passed."
The White House argued that the Act would allow people to make more choices about their lives. They would, for instance, no longer have to stay in a dead end job just because it provided health care.
A senior administration official insisted on condition of anonymity that expanded federal incentives for workers to buy health care would actually have a stimulatory impact on the economy.
Others said a healthier work force would lead to fewer sick days and higher productivity.
The non-partisan CBO report estimated that the ACA will reduce the total number of hours worked by between one and two percent during the period from 2017 to 2024.
It said the reduction will be driven mainly by low wage workers who chose to work less because of new taxes applying under the ACA.
The changes will amount to a roughly one percent reduction of aggregate labor compensation between 2017-2024.
That equates to around two million fewer full time workers in 2017 rising to about 2.5 million in 2024, the report said.
The CBO still projects total employment will rise over the coming decade, but believes it will do so less than it would have if Obamacare had not been passed.
Republicans seized an immediate opening.
"For years, Republicans have said that the president's health care law creates uncertainty for small businesses, hurts take-home pay, and makes it harder to invest in new workers," said House Speaker John Boehner.
"The middle class is getting squeezed in this economy, and this CBO report confirms that ObamaCare is making it worse."