Free Republic

States across America have been waiting patiently for Washington to remember that there are Tenth Amendment curbs on federal power. The administration has willfully violated states’ turf and Congress has shown no will to counter these violations of federalism. When it comes to Obamacare, given the administration’s litany of insults to the legislative process and underlying disrespect for the separation of powers, it’s hard to know whether Congress really is working to repeal, replace, or reform the ACA. After 47 attempts to do something about the law, Congress hasn’t even been able to stop executive revisions that both pander to...

Washington, DC—Representative James Lankford (R-OK), Chairman of the House Republican Policy Committee, today introduced the House Joint Resolution legislative proposal for the Health Care Compact, a breakthrough governance reform that allows states to clean up the health care mess created by the federal government. “The Health Care Compact is a way for states to protect their residents from the top-down, one-size-fits-all health care ‘solutions’ that have been imposed from Washington DC, including Obamacare,” said Lankford. “The compact transfers health care decision-making authority and responsibility from the federal level to member states. Those member states are then free to implement their...

July 18, 2011: "With the signature of Gov. Rick Perry today, Texas has joined three other states stating their intention to enter into a health care compact. The compact, which would challenge the authority of the federal government to dictate the terms of the federally and state funded Medicaid program, was part of a wide-ranging health care reform bill, Senate Bill 7, passed by the Texas Legislature in its recently concluded special session. Georgia, Oklahoma and Missouri have already signed onto the compacts movement, with Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon signing a bill into law on Thursday. The law establishes Texas,...

State Rep. Tom McMillin (R-Rochester Hills) has sent a memo to House colleagues inviting them to co-sponsor a multistate Health Care Compact he plans to introduce shortly. The measure has been introduced in 14 states, adopted by legislative bodies in several, signed into law in Georgia and Oklahoma, and submitted for governors' signatures in Missouri and Montana. If approved by Congress, it would make the federal “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act” optional in the states that join the compact — and theoretically, the president’s signature is not required on that congressional approval. Importantly, the Health Care Compact is much...