The US Constitution being ignored is not a compelling reason for a Con-Con.
Donald Trump did (with a pen) what we asked for our GOP legislature to do for the last 6+ years of controlling the house.
Whether he realized it or not, he might well have set the tone for examining presidential actions, and more importantly how the bureaucracy interfaces with the public going forward. Citing the constitution, the Trump administration has declared it will no longer pay for health care subsidies, period. From ABC news:
” the White House said the government cannot legally continue to pay the so-called cost-sharing subsidies because they lack a formal authorization by Congress.
However, the administration had been making the payments from month to month, even as Trump threatened to cut them off to force Democrats to negotiate over health care. The subsidies help lower co-pays and deductibles for people with modest incomes.
Halting the payments would trigger a spike in premiums for next year, unless Trump reverses course or Congress authorizes the money. The next payments are due around Oct. 20. “
Unless he “reverses course?”
He cannot reverse course. It would be as illegal as Obama making the payments in the first place. In fact, this very act was already preceded by a declaration that the very payment of those subsidies was unconstitutional, not just yesterday, but actually in APRIL of this year by US attorney general Jeff Sessions:
” Sessions said during a Fox News interview that the payments to insurers, which reimburse them for lowering the cost of copays and deductibles for low-income Obamacare customers and are the subject of a House lawsuit, should be appropriated by Congress.
Sessions’ comments come as insurers are concerned whether the Trump administration will continue to reimburse them for the cost-sharing reductions.
Insurers are required under federal law to provide the reductions for Obamacare and have been getting reimbursed by the federal government. They are expected to receive $7 billion this year.
But Sessions said a lawsuit filed by the House against the Obama administration in 2014 “has validity to it.”
The lawsuit argues that the Obama administration illegally bypassed Congress and didn’t get an appropriation for the payments.
Nobody could say they didn’t see this coming.
But where is the Michigan angle you ask?
(14)Nuh Uh.
(1)
