All Aboard the Obama Legislative Express!
We're living in the era of President Trainwreck.
Posted on 12/22/2009 11:42:18 AM PST by divine_moment_of_facts
Today, U.S. Senators Jim DeMint (R-South Carolina) and John Ensign (R-Nevada), raised a Constitutional Point of Order on the Senate floor against the Democrat health care takeover bill on behalf of the Steering Committee, a caucus of conservative senators. The Senate will vote tomorrow on the bill’s constitutionality..
(Excerpt) Read more at demint.senate.gov ...
December 22, 2009 - WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senators Jim DeMint (R-South Carolina) and John Ensign (R-Nevada), raised a Constitutional Point of Order on the Senate floor against the Democrat health care takeover bill on behalf of the Steering Committee, a caucus of conservative senators. The Senate will vote tomorrow on the bill’s constitutionality.
“I am incredibly concerned that the Democrats’ proposed individual mandate provision takes away too much freedom and choice from Americans across the country,” said Senator Ensign. “As an American, I felt the obligation to stand up for the individual freedom of every citizen to make their own decision on this issue. I don’t believe Congress has the legal authority to force this mandate on its citizens.”
“Forcing every American to purchase a product is absolutely inconsistent with our Constitution and the freedoms our Founding Fathers hoped to protect,” said Senator DeMint. “This is not at all like car insurance, you can choose not to drive but Americans will have no choice whether to buy government-approved insurance. This is nothing more than a bailout and takeover of insurance companies. We’re forcing Americans to buy insurance under penalty of law and then Washington bureaucrats will then dictate what these companies can sell to Americans. This is not liberty, it is tyranny of good intentions by elites in Washington who think they can plan our lives better than we can.”
Americans who fail to buy health insurance, according to the Democrats’ bill, would be subject to financial penalties. The senators believe the bill is unconstitutional because the insurance mandate is not authorized by any of the limited enumerated powers granted to the federal government. The individual mandate also likely violates the “takings” clause of the 5th Amendment.
The Democrats’ healthcare reform bill requires Americans to buy health insurance “whether or not they ever visit a doctor, get a prescription or have an operation.” If an American chooses not to buy health insurance coverage, they will face rapidly increasing taxes that will rise to $750 or 2% of their taxable income, whichever is greater.
The Congressional Budget Office once stated “A mandate requiring all individuals to purchase health insurance would be an unprecedented form of federal action. The government has never required people to buy any good or service as a condition of lawful residence in the United States.”
A legal study by scholars at the nonpartisan Heritage Foundation concluded: “An individual mandate to enter into a contract with or buy a particular product from a private party, with tax penalties to enforce it, is unprecedented-- not just in scope but in kind--and unconstitutional as a matter of first principles and under any reasonable reading of judicial precedents.”
We need 60 Jim De Mints!
It might be delayed until after Christmas!! Barry might have to postpone his Hawaii vacation a bit longer!!
I HEARD this listening to Rush.Shouldn’t this go to the Supreme Court?
The point of order will be defeated, of course. But this sets up a challenge later, no?
Obama will be so furious his mask will slip.
thanks for the post, this is what Rush brought up the other day, at least they are trying to address prior than after the fact. Go DeMint and Ensign. Give them hell.
Forcing every American to purchase a product for citizens of another state in a Federal program should be next up...
Did Rush cut back his vacation? Are the shows from yesterday and today LIVE?
“We need 60 Jim De Mints!”
Good start! I vote for 535 Jim DeMints. And since we’re cloning him, I’ll take a Ronald Reagan clone as President for life!!!
All Aboard the Obama Legislative Express!
We're living in the era of President Trainwreck.
FINALLY! A republican with a pair!
Rush said the GOP has ways to slow it down or maybe stop it. They need to pull out every thing they have to stop it. Maybe more Dems in the House will defect.
Can’t go to Supremes until it’s made law and someone with standing brings suit. Even then they don’t have to hear it.
We Are No Longer a Nation of Laws..
http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2009/12/we-are-no-longer-a-nation-of-laws.html
Jim DeMint has Heart and Soul!
Yes, Rush leaves for vacation tomorrow.
He’s still on LIVE for another 5 minutes.
I wonder . . . does standing only come into effect when there is actual harm (someone experiencing a monetary loss of some kind, I suppose), or can something in a law signed on a certain day be construed to cause harm at that moment?
The senate votes on whether a bill they passed is constitutional? Shouldn’t that be considered before they pass it?
That’s great. He is more fired up than I every heard him.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.