Not so fast...The Affordable Health Care for America Act (or HR 3962)[1] was a bill that was crafted by the United States House of Representatives in November 2009. At the encouragement of the Obama administration, the 111th Congress devoted much of its time to enacting reform of the United States' health care system. Known as the "House bill," it was the House of Representative's chief legislative proposal during the health reform debate, but the Affordable Health Care for America Act as originally drafted never became law.
On December 24, 2009, the Senate passed an alternative health care bill, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (H.R. 3590).
Link: Affordable Health Care for America Act
Sorry, but the original House bill did NOT become law. The bill as passed was actually initiated in the Senate. I recall this from the debates here on FR at the time. It was part of our discussion.
SO the reason 0 and Co kept insisting that it wasn’t a tax, was because they knew they could not lawfully start a TAX bill in the Senate. Roberts just trumped their Ace!
Harry Reid took a House bill that had nothing to do with health care, stripped out all of the language, and turned that into the ObamaCare bill.
Really, this has been covered before. Really.
That was my first thought (after OH Shit) when I heard the decision. But many here and I’m sure other pundits were quick to shoot that theory down.
The Roberts reply, too me, seemed like a scathing rebuke to whoever wrote this steaming pile of crap, the Affordable Care Act. Not just wrote it but passed it. And that would be the Dems. So, it’s their baby and now they’ve got to defend the biggest tax increase in history. Not only that but Roberts made it much easier to repeal.
I’m sure with just a very little research that anyone who wants to know will find that the bill did originate in the Senate. As I remember the House didn’t even vote on the Bill.