{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://web.archive.org/web/20140222013359/http://www.barrasso.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressOffice.OpinionEditorials&ContentRecord_id=0982fef2-ccd9-db8e-80f7-bb289461978f", "ABC News: Sen. John Barrasso: HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius 'The Laughing Stock of America'", "2013-10-27", "2013", "2013-10", "Republican", "House", "WY", "John Barrasso", "B001261", "web.archive.org", null, null, "legacy", "ABC News: Sen. John Barrasso: HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius \u2018The Laughing Stock of America\u2019 \n By Isobel Markham   \n October 27, 2013   \nAs technical problems continue to plague the Obamacare rollout, Senator and orthopedic surgeon Dr. John Barrasso, R-Wy., once again called for Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to resign.\n\u201cShe\u2019s already, as of \u2018Saturday Night Live\u2019 last night, the laughing stock of America,\u201d he said on \u2018This Week\u2019 this Sunday. \u201cShe\u2019s lost considerable credibility.\u201d\nSebelius was parodied in the opening segment of \u2018Saturday Night Live\u2019 last night, poking fun at the failures of the Healthcare.gov website.\nThe Obamacare rollout has been beleaguered by problems since the enrollment system went live at midnight on Oct. 1. By mid-afternoon that same day, around 2.8 million people had visited Healthcare.gov, the federally-run exchange serving 36 states. The resulting system overload meant many visitors were greeted with an error message saying the site was down.\nIn the following weeks consumers reported problems with system timeouts, creating and logging into accounts and inaccurate information regarding eligibility.\nIn his weekly address Saturday, President Barack Obama said Healthcare.gov had been visited more than 20 million times since its launch. However, only around 700,000 Americans have successfully submitted applications.  \n\u201cThe website was supposed to be the easy part of this,\u201d Barrasso said on \u201cThis Week\u201d Sunday. \u201cThis is just the tip of the iceberg of problems, with bigger problems to come.\u201d\nJoining the discussion from his home state of West Virginia, Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin acknowledged that it was a mistake to go forward with the launch on October 1, but didn\u2019t agree that Sebelius\u2019s resignation should be part of the solution.\n\u201cI think she should stay and I think she will get the job done,\u201d Manchin told George Stephanopoulos on \u201cThis Week.\u201d  \nA Congressional hearing on Thursday revealed that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services allowed just two weeks to road test the website before the launch and was aware in advance of problems that would likely cause system malfunction. Sebelius is due to testify before Congress on the rollout Wednesday.\nFrustrations with signing on to the new system have led some on Capitol Hill, including Senate Democrats, to once again call for a delay. Manchin is calling for a one-year delay of the penalty for failing to sign up for the individual mandate. Instead of the current $95 fine taking effect in January 2014, a larger penalty of $325 would hit those not signed up by January 2015.\n\u201cIt\u2019ll still induce people to get involved but it\u2019ll also give us the time to transition in,\u201d Manchin said.  \nEarlier this week Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., proposed extending the enrollment period to March 31, 2014.\nFellow Democratic Senators Mark Begich, D-Alaska, Mark Pryor, D-Ark., and Mary Landrieu, D-La., who, like Shaheen, are all facing tough reelection bids in 2014, were quick to support the New Hampshire Senator\u2019s plan.\nThe Obama administration announced Friday that private firm Quality Software Services Inc. (QSSI) will oversee repairs to the website, and promised that the portal will be glitch-free and fully-functional by Nov. 30.\nWhether this deadline is met or not, Manchin says a transition period is necessary to iron out any other problems with the law, including insuring that policies truly respond to the needs of consumers.\n\u201cNobody should be forced to buy a policy that costs more than what they had and is inferior to what they had,\u201d Manchin said. \u201cThose things have to be worked out.\u201d\nFormer Vice President Dick Cheney, who joined Stephanopoulos later in the show, voiced concerns that Obamacare could stifle innovation in the healthcare sector.\n\u201cThe system we have is the best in the world by far,\u201d Cheney said, adding that many of the surgical procedures and devices from which he has benefitted have been gradually developed over several decades.\n\u201cWhat I worry about very much is that the current debate over Obamacare, that Obamacare itself, may damage that innovation machine that we\u2019ve created out there,\u201d he added.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://web.archive.org/web/20140222013359/http://www.barrasso.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressOffice.OpinionEditorials&ContentRecord_id=0982fef2-ccd9-db8e-80f7-bb289461978f"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9990320540964603, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}