White House Press Secretary Jay Carney dodged questions on Obamacare contractor CGI at Tuesday’s press briefing.
When by pressed by ABC’s Jon Karl on why CGI – which Karl noted had been fired by the Canadian government over implementing its own healthcare system – was hired by the Department of Health and Human Services, and where the additional funds to fix the Obamacare website were coming from, Carney refused to answer, only referring Karl to HHS.
Below is a transcript of the exchange:
Q: Can we just ask about the main contractor that helped build this website, CGI? I mean, they were fired by Ontario, Canada, for problems up there. Did the administration choose the wrong people to build this website?
MR. CARNEY: Look, there are a lot of people working on this. I would refer you to HHS about contractors. That's not something that the White House oversees. The president made clear today that he's not satisfied with what the consumer experience is with the website, and the administration, HHS and CMS are working 24/7 to improve the experience.
Q: Can you answer, though? The contract, the top dollar -- was it -- started at $93 million. It went up to $292 million, which is where it now -- where is that money coming from?
MR. CARNEY: I would refer you to HHS for questions about HHS contracts.