WASHINGTON — The House of Representatives' vote to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has drawn praise from the National Retail Federation.

"At a time when the economy is still struggling to recover, Congress needs to repeal the healthcare law before it costs millions of Americans their jobs," NRF president and CEO Matthew Shay. "Congress set out to make health care more accessible by making it more affordable. Instead, what we may well get is a perfect storm of unintended consequences that drives up costs so high that many companies likely will be forced to cut back their payrolls or discontinue health care coverage even if it means paying fines. Instead of making health care more available, the Affordable Care Act is likely to cost many workers both their jobs and their health insurance.

"It's time for Congress to go back to work and come up with true bipartisan healthcare reform that focuses first on reducing costs and addressing the fundamental flaws of our healthcare system, rather than destroying jobs and penalizing the very employers who today voluntarily pay for health insurance," Shay said. "As an industry that provides health care coverage for millions of American workers and their families, retail will continue to work with lawmakers to achieve that goal."

As previously reported, the Supreme Court upheld the ACA in a 5-4 decision last month.