Michael, What a week. The House passed legislation to delay Obamacare’s individual mandate for five years. That’s not really a surprise; my Republican colleagues and I have passed dozens of partial and full repeals of the law since 2011. What was surprising was this time a dozen Democrats joined us. Congressional Democrats are in panic mode as Obamacare begins to collapse and public support for the law hits an all-time low. Even the President is showing signs of cracking. He has waived or delayed so many pieces of his signature “accomplishment” that it’s tough to remember what’s left of it. Let’s review: - After millions of Americans’ insurance policies were canceled last year, the administration waived a coverage mandate through 2014. - A few days ago, the administration extended the first coverage waiver through 2016. - Last year, the administration waived the employer mandate on big businesses. - The administration now says that medium-sized businesses also are temporarily waived from complying with the employer mandate. And yet American families still have gotten no relief from the individual mandate. When we brought up the bill last week to delay the individual mandate, we requested a cost estimate from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), Congress’s nonpartisan number cruncher. We asked: How much would a five-year delay cost the federal government? CBO’s answer: Nothing. Pushing back the individual mandate for five years won’t cost the government anything; in fact, it will SAVE the government more than $145 billion! How can that be? After all, the individual mandate fines people for not buying insurance, and the government pockets those fines. It turns out that Obamacare’s subsidies are so lavish that the more people sign up for Obamacare, the more it costs the government -- even after fining those who refuse to purchase Obamacare-approved plans. So now we can label Obamacare’s individual mandate “costly” as well as “unconstitutional.” Obama hasn’t waived the individual mandate, but his administration has been more than happy to waive other laws -- and even to write them! It’s Obama’s “I’ve got a pen and I’ve got a phone” strategy. Don’t like immigration laws? Waive them! Tired of waiting for the Senate to confirm appointees? Appoint them anyway! The Rule of Law means no one -- not even the President -- has the power to negate some laws and create new ones at will. As a first step toward reining in the President, I worked with my colleague Rep. Ron DeSantis to pass the Faithful Execution of the Law Act last week. The bill requires the administration to notify Congress when it decides against enforcing the law. We passed it through the House and even picked up some Democratic support. This is another example of how we’re making a difference in Washington. Together with my allies in the House, I’m advancing individual liberty, economic freedom, and fidelity to the Constitution. We’re also beginning to hold the Obama administration accountable. In liberty, Justin Amash
Posted on: Tue, 18 Mar 2014 04:01:11 +0000
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