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Posted on 06/29/2012 8:28:12 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Now that the Supreme Court has upheld the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, Republicans from Mitt Romney to Speaker John Boehner have pledged to repeal the ACA, which is set for full implementation by 2015. Until the decision was announced, it seemed almost unthinkable that the Supreme Court and its constructionist majority would deem a law giving Congress the power to mandate commerce a valid exercise of its constitutional powers. Four justices felt that the individual mandate, which requires every American to purchase health insurance or pay a fine, fell within the ability of Congress to regulate interstate commerce. Five justices did not. Of those five, however, one—Chief Justice John Roberts—agreed with the Obama administration’s argument that the fine actually constitutes a tax, thus giving Congress cover to enact the mandate (and the law as a whole) under its power to tax. And so, in the end this otherwise conservative court affirmed the legality of President Obama's signature piece of legislation.
From here, Republicans have virtually no viable options (at least in the near term) to prevent or stall the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. But that hardly means they aren’t going to try, or at least exploit it for political gain.
Within moments of the Supreme Court’s decision upholding the ACA, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R – VA) announced that during the week of July 9, the House of Representatives will hold a vote to repeal the ACA. This will be the 30th attempt by the House to repeal either part or all of the ACA. While the House will undoubtedly vote to repeal the ACA, from there the measure will go nowhere. The Democratic-controlled senate will certainly not vote to repeal. Furthermore, Obama would have to sign the legislation repealing his biggest legislative achievement. Thus, in order to realize the two and a half year old conservative dream of fully repealing the ACA, the Republicans would have to garner sweeping electoral victories this November.
That would mean that in addition to holding the House and Mitt Romney defeating Obama in the race for the White House, Republicans would have to take the senate and by a filibuster-proof majority. This is because for many major pieces of legislation, a simple majority vote no longer suffices for passage in the senate. According to the rules of the chamber, before a vote takes place on a bill, the senate has to vote on whether to have a vote. This is called cloture, and it requires 60 votes out of 100 (or three-fifths) to invoke. With the GOP controlling only 47 seats at the moment, Republicans would have to gain a virtually unprecedented 13 senate seats in November to secure a filibuster proof majority. Polls on these races indicate nothing of the sort will happen.
None of this is to say that conservatives won’t try their damnedest to accomplish this Herculean political feat, or make a good show of it, anyway. Brother energy tycoons Charles and David Koch have thrown themselves at the forefront of the battle. Americans for Prosperity, which they fund, has already launched a $9 million television ad campaign specifically attacking the ruling. On July 8, David Koch will hold a $50,000 per plate fundraiser at his Long Island mansion for Romney, who has also pledged to repeal “Obamacare,” the model for which was the health care plan Romney signed into law as governor of Massachusetts. And it was recently announced that casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, who had inexplicably poured tens of millions of dollars into the ridiculous presidential campaign of Newt Gingrich, has pledged $10 million to the Kochs’ efforts to defeat Democratic candidates. Even still, the Democrats have their own well-oiled fundraising operations, as Obama has raised more money than Romney.
While it’s conceivable the Democrats could lose the White House, the senate, and fail to take back the House, they will certainly not lose the 13 senate seats that would be required for a GOP filibuster-proof majority. That is, barring a party-wide collapse of epic proportions.
[ That would mean that in addition to holding the House and Mitt Romney defeating Obama in the race for the White House, Republicans would have to take the senate and by a filibuster-proof majority. This is because for many major pieces of legislation, a simple majority vote no longer suffices for passage in the senate]
the Senate will repeal it through reconciliation. The SAME DAMN WAY IT WAS PASSED! Afterall, it is a TAX BILL! 51 Senate votes gets it done!
I doubt the tree of liberty will ever be fed again.
Mandate this, he said (scene redacted for small children that might be scared).
I don't remember the founders giving that power to any part of federal gooberment.
We just gotta get rid of it. It's like the teenage son you have to send to a recruiter.
We don't need a federal government. At all.
/johnny
/johnny
What could anyone do about it? Also, Romney through HIS HHS Secretary could WAIVE all United States Citizens, but then maybe require illegal aliens to pay the "penalty tax"
Romney should be primaried if not repealed in full.
From what I read of the opinion, Justices Ginsburg and Sotomayor were the only two who felt that the commerce clause empowered the individual mandate.
The media has two sets or rules, one set to apply to Democrats and the other set to stick it to Republicans with.
I think the question we all need to be asking is:
“Where is my free health care, Mr. Obama?”
I went to the doctor and paid $2,000 this afternoon.
The question is:
“Where is my free health care?”
The army of drones that thinks this will work should ask:
“Where is my free health care?”
I am confident pubbies will take the prez, keep the house, and take the senate. That will easily be enough to repeal boneheadcare via recon, but will they have the cojones to do it against the heavy artillery fire from the msm?
In order for this to work, (obviously) Obama must lose. A veto-proof majority is impossible, and by 2017 the people will be too hooked on the goodies that no politician will dare repeal it. I hate Willard, but this is our only shot.
Jefferson also said that "The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground."
So the natural direction of government is tyranny, and living free and individual liberty is so low of a priority among the public that it is never even mentioned. People fight for the method they can surrender liberty to the government.
You are right about how the "tree of liberty" will never be refreshed again, not enough people want to live free.
"DEPENDANCE" is the new war cry of the general public.
I agree with the content of this article. The difficulty to repeal is overwhelming. However, it will energize the conservative base and maybe, just maybe in a period of time, conservatives will learn how to reach out and inform the great masses of another alternative. If not . . . Welcome to Socialist Republic of Divided States!
A tax bill cannot be filibustered. And every liberal on the Court has now affirmed this to be a tax bill. And even if it doesn’t get repealed right away, it as a tax will be subjected to a myriad of legal challenges such as equal protection in application, forcing one to pay someone else’s tax, etc.
The ball is now in the Republicans' court. They've already scheduled a repeal vote on July 11. Once before the Democrat-controlled Senate was able to scotch the effort by threat of filibuster. Had the mandate stood as mandate they could do so again. But now that it's a tax, it can be passed by a simple majority.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2900927/posts
Repeal the 17th Amendment, first.
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