Rep. Broun derails science hearing to ask why EPA chief doesn't have Obamacare

Even a hearing that was supposed to be dedicated to science could not escape the House Republican caucus' obsession with President Barack Obama's health care reform law on Thursday.

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Gina McCarthy was supposed to be appearing before the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology to talk about transparency within the agency when Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA) veered off topic.

"Let me ask you one more question because my time’s running out. Are you signed up for Obamacare?" he asked.

"No, I am not," McCarthy replied.

"Why not?" Broun pressed.

"Well because I’m lucky enough as a federal government [employee] that I have health care available to me which I’ve signed up for," McCarthy explained. "In a few years, when that’s not the case, I’ll be happy to have other available health care opportunities."

"Well the president says health care opportunities is much better than forcing most federal employees into Obamacare and obviously if you are not signing up you don’t think it is," the Georgia Republican opined before yielding the floor.

Think Progress pointed out that Rep. Steve Stockman (R-TX) later decided to misquote McCarthy as saying she was "lucky enough not to have to sign up for Obamacare."

"I actually think I was referring to, I’m lucky enough to have access to good health care," McCarthy told Stockman.

"I still will take your quote for the record," Stockman insisted. "I wrote it down. It’s really good."

Watch this video from C-SPAN, broadcast Nov. 14, 2013.