During this July 4th weekend, it seem appropriate to reflect for a moment on president Obama's latest assault on the Constitution, namely his "delay" for a year in enforcing the employer mandate in Obamacare. The employer mandate requires companies of a certain size to provide health insurance to their workers. It is an important part of the overall scheme of Obamacare, since workers whose employers do not provide health insurance are given subsidies to buy their own coverage while those with employers that do provide health insurance will not get subsidies. Everyone, however, is required to have insurance. Think about that for a minute. Congress passes an incredibly complicated scheme to get more folks insured. Under the law, the burden for most health insurance falls on the employers; any company with 50 employees has to provide insurance. The federal government subsidizes some at great cost to the taxpayers, but that includes only those who work for a company that refuses to provide insurance (and pays a penalty for that refusal.) This complicated scheme was passed as a whole; Congress approved the plan in this form only.
Now Obama comes along and says that the federal government will not enforce the requirement that employers provide health insurance for at least another year. In one decision, Obama has completely changed the structure that Congress built. He has amended the law even though the Constitution does not give him that power. Think of the worker whose large company does not provide adequate insurance (that meets the Obamacare minimums.) That worker will not get insurance from his employer even though he or she would have under the law as passed. Undoubtedly, the feds will say that the worker now qualifies for a subsidy. Multiply this by millions of workers and that means that the federal government will spend hundreds of billions of dollars extra on subsidies that Congress never approved.
The ploy used by Obama is amazing for its blatant disregard of the Constitution. Imagine, if you will, the reaction that would have arisen if George Bush had announced that he wanted to promote domestic energy production so for a year the federal government would not enforce any income taxes on profits generated from oil or gas drilling. It is basically the same thing Obama just did. It would be taking one part of the income tax law and announcing a one year vacation from enforcement of that law. The Democrats and their media allies, however, would have gone into a veritable frenzy of outrage and called for Bush's impeachment. BUT OBAMA JUST DID THE SAME THING.
Now Obama comes along and says that the federal government will not enforce the requirement that employers provide health insurance for at least another year. In one decision, Obama has completely changed the structure that Congress built. He has amended the law even though the Constitution does not give him that power. Think of the worker whose large company does not provide adequate insurance (that meets the Obamacare minimums.) That worker will not get insurance from his employer even though he or she would have under the law as passed. Undoubtedly, the feds will say that the worker now qualifies for a subsidy. Multiply this by millions of workers and that means that the federal government will spend hundreds of billions of dollars extra on subsidies that Congress never approved.
The ploy used by Obama is amazing for its blatant disregard of the Constitution. Imagine, if you will, the reaction that would have arisen if George Bush had announced that he wanted to promote domestic energy production so for a year the federal government would not enforce any income taxes on profits generated from oil or gas drilling. It is basically the same thing Obama just did. It would be taking one part of the income tax law and announcing a one year vacation from enforcement of that law. The Democrats and their media allies, however, would have gone into a veritable frenzy of outrage and called for Bush's impeachment. BUT OBAMA JUST DID THE SAME THING.
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