‘No contingency planning’ at White House if healthcare repealed

As tough questions swirled about President Obama’s healthcare reform law, White House officials said Wednesday that they aren’t making plans for the possibility that the Supreme Court knocks some or all of it down.

The White House expects that the law will be upheld, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said, and is focused on implementing the healthcare law.

“There’s no contingency planning going on,” Earnest told reporters. “We remain fully confident in the belief that the Affordable Care Act is constitutional.”

Senior administration officials also defended the work of Solicitor Gen. Donald Verrilli, after a spate of critical assessments rendered by left-leaning writers in the wake of Tuesday’s oral arguments.

Obama has been reading news accounts and following the case through briefings, officials said, and he hasn’t expressed concern about Verrilli’s performance.

Obama returned from a trip to South Korea late Tuesday and did not have public events on his schedule on Wednesday. Aides didn’t know if he had listened to an audio recording of the oral arguments.

Original source: ‘No contingency planning’ at White House if healthcare repealed