Former President Barack Obama returned to the White House on Tuesday, for the first time since leaving office in 2017, to participate in a celebration of the Affordable Care Act.
During the event in the East Room, President Joe Biden announced and signed an executive order to expand affordable health care under the law. Obama, who signed the ACA into law in 2010, gave a speech and received a standing ovation.
“Mr. President, welcome back to the White House, man,” Biden told Obama. “Feels like the good old days.”
When Obama and Biden entered the room with Vice President Kamala Harris, the attendees — including administration officials, lawmakers and ACA advocates — stood for two minutes, clapping and cheering. Harris introduced the former president, praising Obama for “vision and leadership” that “laid the foundation for this groundbreaking legislation.”
Obama cracked several jokes about the president, first addressing him as “Vice President Biden,” which solicited laughter from Biden and the audience.
“That was a joke,” Obama said.
Later, Obama said it had “been a while” since he last went to the White House, joking that he “heard some changes have been made by the current president since I was last here.”
“Apparently, Secret Service agents have to wear aviator glasses now,” Obama said. “The Navy Mess has been replaced by a Baskin-Robbins, and there’s a cat running around,” Obama continued, poking fun at Biden’s well-documented enthusiasm for sunglasses, ice cream and felines.
The former president spoke about the arduous process of passing the ACA and the opposition it received.
“I intended to get health care passed, even if it cost me reelection,” Obama said. “Which, for a while, it looked like it might.”
Obama thanked all those who played a role in passing the ACA, mentioning House Speaker Nancy Pelosi — who was in attendance — by name. He also thanked the late Senate majority leader Harry Reid, who died in December.
But his most profuse praise was reserved for Biden, who served all eight years of the Obama administration as vice president. The two “got a lot done” together, Obama said, but nothing made him prouder than “providing better health care and more protections to millions of people across this country.”
“[Biden] has dedicated his life to the proposition that there’s something worthy about public service and that the reason to run for office is for days like today,” Obama said.
When Biden spoke, he introduced himself as “Barack Obama’s vice president,” which solicited cheers and applause. Biden noted that the two had lunch on Tuesday at the White House, joking that they weren’t sure “who was supposed to sit where.”
Biden thanked Obama for his work to pass the ACA, praising the former president for refusing to compromise or give up.
“Let’s be honest, the Affordable Care Act has been called a lot of things,” Biden said. “But Obamacare is the most fitting.”
Biden signed an executive order to close a loophole in the ACA known as the “family glitch,” which prevents some five million Americans from receiving subsidized health care. The action is Biden’s second major move to expand ACA coverage since taking office, following a provision to restructure subsidies in the American Rescue Plan last year.
Attending Tuesday’s event were 28 members of Congress, including Pelosi and Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.); Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra; Interior Secretary Deb Haaland; and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
