The Supreme Court’s ruling today shocked most of us. SCOTUS upheld President Obama’s unpopular health care law. The SCOTUS action underscored the need for repealing and replacing the law.
We can now call the healthcare bill the Stealth Care. The law was sold to American people on deception. SCOTUS ruled the mandate provision on its own was unconstitutional and then they turned around and decided (5-4) - even though Congress said clearly that the mandate was not a tax and was put in the healthcare bill under the commerce clause, that it didn't matter. They accepted the arguments of the Obama White House that the mandate was really a tax. Thus a deceptive tax disguised as the unconstitutional mandate.
In a conference call today with Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), the senator seems as stunned as the rest of us over the decision. When the call was set-up, noone expected this decision.
In March, during the oral arguments on this case, Sen. Johnson told Fox News, “Basically what this law does is it will compel a free individual to engage in a commercial activity for the purpose of the federal government to regulate that activity. It’s an unprecedented power grab by the federal government. . . . Obamacare will further bankrupt this nation. It’s the reason I came here. . . . Obamacare is so unpopular because people just inherently understand that the federal government has no capability of taking over 1/6 of our economy.”
Johnson said today, "The Supreme Court rewrote the law not based on a penalty but on a tax." He also identified that the medicade expansion was struck down. The CBO had estimated the cost to the states as $60 - $100 billion to state budgets. Now this cost will be born at the federal level and that in fact we can expect these costs to be underestimated. The government is already fiscally overburdened and this may force us quicker towards bankruptcy.
Sarah Palin responded today, "This proves to be such an unsettling time in America as we undergo the fundamental transformation that Barack Obama promised he would do to us if elected. Obamacare was dealt in deception and confusion by flooding the public with an overwhelming amount of conflicting “rationale” via thousands of pages of unread legislative detail, which is the radical left’s M.O. Obama promised the American people this wasn’t a tax and that he’d never raise taxes on anyone making less than $250,000. We now see that this is the largest tax increase in history. It will slam every business owner and every one of the 50% of Americans who currently pay their taxes. The other 50% are being deceived if they think they’re going to get a free ride – because Medicaid is broke. Recipients of Obama’s “free health care” will have fewer choices and less accessibility. Trust me – this much more expensive health care WILL be rationed; to claim otherwise defies all economic and common sense."
Congress:
Today, the House voted (255-67) to; find Eric H. Holder, Jr., Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice, in contempt of Congress for refusal to comply with a subpoena duly issued by the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. This is the first time in history that the House has held a cabinet member in Contempt of Congress
The House Democratic Leader, Nancy Pelosi led a walkout off the vote and thus did not vote. So, she and many other democrats refused to vote no on impeaching Eric Holder. In-other-words, they were not willing to vote in support of Eric Holder even though they say otherwise. Amazingly 108 democrats and 2 Republicans did not vote and 1 democrat voted present. However 17 democrat representatives, including Rep. Mike Ross (AR-04), voted yes for holding Holder in contempt while 2 Republicans voted no.
Yesterday, the House yesterday HR 4018 by voice vote - "To improve the Public Safety Officers' Benefits Program."
Today, the Senate will likely to return to S. 1940, the flood insurance bill. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has filled the amendment tree, blocking amendments to the legislation. Votes are possible today.
On the Senate floor today, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell responded to the Supreme Court's decision, “Two and a half years ago, a Democrat president teamed up with a Democrat-led Congress to force a piece of legislation on the American people that they never asked for, and that has turned out to be just as disastrous as many of us predicted. . . . [T]he President of the United States himself promised up and down that this bill was not a tax. This was one of the Democrats’ top selling points — because they knew it would have never passed if they said it was. The Supreme Court has spoken. This law is a tax. This bill was sold to the American people on a deception.”
Recalling President Obama’s famous interview from 2009 with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos where Stephanopoulos asked him over and over again if the individual mandate was a tax. Obama said, “[F]or us to say that you've got to take a responsibility to get health insurance is absolutely not a tax increase.” Stephanopoulos pressed, “But you reject that it's a tax increase?” “I absolutely reject that notion,” Obama replied.
Leader McConnell pointed out, “We pass plenty of terrible laws around here that the court finds constitutional. Constitutionality was never an argument to keep this law in place, and it’s certainly not one you’ll hear from Republicans in Congress.”
Indeed, there are plenty of reminders today why Obamacare was such a bad law in the first place, the question of its constitutionality aside. When the law was first making its way through Congress, Congressional Budget Office reported that at least 75% of individual mandate penalties fall on those making less than $250,000. Since the Supreme Court has declared the mandate a tax, this amounts to a tax hike on middle class families.
Further, Bloomberg News writes, “The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the bulk of the 2010 health-care law means wealthy investors may sell assets before the end of the year as taxes in the overhaul remain in place and will take effect next year. The health-care law includes levies and fees that are projected to raise an estimated $813 billion in revenue over 10 years to help pay for the expansion of insurance coverage, according to the Congressional Budget Office. That figure includes the penalties under either the employer mandate or the individual mandate, which the court ruled was constitutional under Congress’ taxing power.”
Meanwhile, ABC News reported yesterday, “Just 36 percent in this ABC News/Washington Post poll express a favorable opinion of the health care law . . . . While the law’s popularity is weak, barely more than half, 52 percent, see it unfavorably, including 38 percent who have a ‘strongly’ unfavorable opinion.”
Both Speaker Boehner and Senate Republican Leader McConnell agree that the only one way to ‘fix’ Obamacare is a full repeal of the bill that clears the way for common-sense, step-by-step reforms that protect Americans’ access to the care they need, from the doctor they choose, at a lower cost. It appears that's precisely what Republicans are committed to doing.
In conclusion: Obama Care can now be called Stealth Care! Today the People Lost - Chief Justice Roberts Saved Stealth Care.
Tags: SCOTUS, Supreme Court, Obama Care, Stealth Care, US House, Eric Holder, Contempt of Congress To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
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