The Facts About Defunding Obamacare

Political Realities ^ | 09/21/13 | LD Jackson

[LD Jackson]

There is a most vigorous debate now taking place in America. I'm not willing to say it is as virulent as the debate surrounding the original passage of the Affordable Care Act, but the debate over defunding Obamacare is running a close second. I'm not even willing to discuss the rhetoric President Obama is using, as it is so far off base, it isn't even close to the truth. In spite of what the man thinks, not everything is about him. Rather, it is about preventing a train wreck doing even further damage to the American economy, in the form of Obamacare.

Instead, I want to talk about the factions of the Republican Party who have much different opinions about defunding Obamacare. Senators Ted Cruz and Mike Lee are leading the push to pass a continuing resolution that specifically removes the funding for the legislation that the majority of Americans do not want. Karl Rove, however, says the effort to defund Obamacare is misguided and can not be accomplished. He calls it a game of chicken with the President that is best not played. Freedom Works has the details. Emphasis has been added to highlight the important parts.

Defunding ObamaCare in the CR would not affect spending for the expansion of Medicaid, which is almost half of ObamaCare’s cost. Nor would it affect the Exchanges – the subsidies for insurance coverage – that’s also mandatory spending. In fact, as little as 1% or 2% of ObamaCare’s outlays for the first ten years would be affected by adding to the CR a provision defunding ObamaCare.

Rove is basically saying, Look, 98 or 99 percent of ObamaCare is auto-pilot spending; but a CR is about something completely different: annually appropriated spending. Ergo, you can't stop more than one or two percent of ObamaCare on a CR.

That would be a valid argument, if its basic premise were true. But it isn't. What the "Don't Fund It" coalition (led by Senators Mike Lee, Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, and others) is proposing is that all ObamaCare funding -- including auto-pilot spending -- be cut off by means of a legislative "rider" containing specific prohibitory language forbidding any ObamaCare funding from occurring. This rider would be attached to the CR, widely regarded as a "must-pass" measure.

The following "defunding" language is taken directly from Sen. Cruz’s bill, S.1292, to which the identical House counterpart is Rep. Tom Graves's bill, H.R.2682. Note the words in bold:

(a) In General- Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no Federal funds shall be made available to carry out any provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Public Law 111-148) or title I and subtitle B of title II of the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (Public Law 111-152), or of the amendments made by either such Act [i.e., ObamaCare].

(b) Limitation- No entitlement to benefits under any provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Public Law 111-148) or title I and subtitle B of title II of the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (Public Law 111-152), or the amendments made by either such Act [i.e., ObamaCare], shall remain in effect on and after the date of the enactment of this Act, nor shall any payment be awarded, owed, or made to any State, District, or territory under any such provision.

(c) Unobligated Balances- Notwithstanding any other provision of law, all unobligated balances available under the provisions of law referred to in subsection (a) [i.e., ObamaCare] are hereby rescinded.

This language is clear and comprehensive. Enacting it would bring ObamaCare to a complete and permanent halt.

This is not new information I am sharing. It can be found at several other websites across the Internet, but I am sharing it here to make it available to anyone who happens to come across this post. Small though my readership may be, I believe this is important information to share with them.

One of my favorite politicians is Senator Tom Coburn. I shared his viewpoint that trying to defund Obamacare was a dangerous and dishonest gamble in a previous post. Even though I share his concerns that trying to defund Obamacare may backfire on the Republican Party, I am beginning to believe the effort is worth the gamble. That isn't to say the gamble will pay off, or the effort to defund Obamacare succeed, but it is not the lost cause so many people, some Republicans included, seem to think it is.

The basic premise of Karl Rove's argument is that the effort to defund Obamacare simply will not work. As Freedom Works has shown, that is not the truth. I'm a Man! I'm 41! has the audio of Senator Ted Cruz and Mark Levin discussing the defunding effort and how Cruz envisions it will work. It is worth the time it takes to listen to, as he details exactly how it should work. The idea is simple.

The House of Representatives has already passed the continuing resolution containing the legislative language in the quote above. That's the first step. After that, the CR goes to the Senate, where Harry Reid is certain to try to strip the language defunding Obamacare out. We will know the outcome of that battle in the next few days. If he succeeds, the CR goes back to the House. The Republican leadership should then pass smaller bills to fund specific parts of the government, ie. the military, etc., and send them to the Senate. If a government shutdown ensues, the blame should rest squarely on the shoulders of the liberal Democrats and their leader in the White House.

http://youtu.be/tsH1Dq4pbkg

[The Great RJ]

What may emerge is a compromise to delay Obamacare for a year. Obama has already illegally delayed the employer mandate and also illegally handed out waivers so delaying the whole thing by a year would not be a stretch even for Democrats. The Democrats are counting on Obamacare being wildly popular and a government shutdown a negative for the GOP. What they do not understand is that the majority of the American people WANT Obamacare defunded and blaming the GOP for a government shutdown may not work.

[gwjack]

LD — I hope you are well. Thank you for posting this article. I read snippets of Cruz on Levin’s show earlier. Listening to the link was much more powerful.

In a sense, Cruz is playing multi-dimensional chess, and Obama is still looking in his operations manual about how to play the Republicans. Zero is playing solitaire, and he likes to cheat.

Cruz’ strategy is easily followed, and even Constitutional. It is a multi-step plan that will be successful if fully implemented. It’s brilliant, and I only wish I had thought of it. It does no harm to alert the Dems if the House stays on the same page and do not go wobbly.

Again, thanks for posting this.

Gwjack

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks LD Jackson.

Paul: We probably can’t get rid of ‘Obamacare’
Associated Press | Sep. 21, 2013 5:15 PM EDT | Thomas Beaumont
Posted on 09/21/2013 2:28:46 PM PDT by Olog-hai
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3069616/posts

[GailA]

MISNOMER IT IS THE UNAFFORDABLE HEALTH CARE ACT!

[GailA]

After spending the past week and a half at the hospital with my DIL who was getting a mascetomy I can tell you, that the nurses are scared as hell of 0 care, and being reduced to part time work! Or losing their jobs. And if the nurses are scared so are the lower end workers.

[Whenifhow]

Thank you for posting!
Great audio with Mark Levin and Ted Cruz
http://youtu.be/tsH1Dq4pbkg