Reps. Chip Cravaack, Michele Bachmann and John Kline lent their names to a brief filed with the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday arguing that the Supreme Court should rule the Affordable Care Act (ACA) unconstitutional.
Catholics for Choice said a birth control exemption for religious organizations ignores the well-being of the organization’s workers and patients.
Thirty-four members of the Minnesota Legislature signed a “friend of the court” brief in the lawsuit challenging the Affordable Care Act (ACA). A Florida judge ruled the ACA unconstitutional and the case is currently in the U.S. Court of Appeals in the 11th District. The Minnesota legislators filed the brief in support for the ACA’s constitutionality, and they constitute one-fifth of the 154 legislators in 26 states that filed the brief. All are DFLers. The move comes as Republicans in the Minnesota House and Senate have included provisions in the health and human services omnibus bills that would ban the ACA from being implemented in Minnesota.
Republicans in the Minnesota House have included an amendment to the health and human services omnibus bill that would ban the implementation of the Affordable Care Act in the state of Minnesota because legislators believe it to be in violation of the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. On Wednesday night, Republicans argued that “Obamacare” would “eviscerate” state sovereignty, while DFLers made comparisons to the Confederacy and the arguments used by secessionists during the Civil War. One legislator even proposed changing the state song to “Dixie.”
Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin introduced the Republican budget proposal on Tuesday, a budget that would spend $6.2 trillion less than President Obama’s budget, repeal funding for the Affordable Care Act, phase in a voucher system for Medicare, and cut $700 billion from Medicaid over the next decade. Minnesota’s political leaders were quick to respond to the proposal, with reactions falling along partisan lines.
House Republicans passed a bill on Thursday that calls for a budget bill containing $61 billion in cuts to become law if the Senate does not pass a spending plan by Wednesday. Bachmann, along with all but 15 Republicans, voted for the bill that would “deem” the budget bill into law, also known as a “self-executing rule.” One year ago, Bachmann called a similar bill “violence to the Constitution” and suggested impeachment if Democrats “deemed and passed” health care reform into law.
Leaders on Capitol Hill have given indications that they are close to reaching a compromise that would prevent a shutdown of the federal government. The speculative compromise would include $33 billion in cuts, well below the $61 billion the Republicans in the House have proposed. Rep. Michele Bachmann criticized the deal saying that the Democrats want the government to shut down and that they would not compromise. Bachmann said she and the tea party would not compromise either.
Rep. Michele Bachmann’s announcement last week that she’s mulling the idea of becoming a potential contender for the GOP nomination for president in 2012 has brought about a new round of fact-checking her statements this week. PolitiFact gave her a “Pants on Fire” rating on Tuesday, while Poligraph gave her an “inconclusive” on Wednesday. A member of Congress even used committee testimony this week to try and debunk one of her more frequent claims.
After a heated discussion Tuesday evening, the House Health Reform Committee passed a bill along party lines that would halt implementation of the federal Affordable Care Act in Minnesota until the constitutionality of the law is considered by the U.S. Supreme Court. The committee meeting grew contentious as Republicans’ repeated use of the term “Obamacare” led Democrats to consider dubbing the eight-year Iraqi war the “Bush wars,” and DFLers trying to preserve key aspects of the act including a ban on rejecting patients — especially children — who have preexisting health conditions for coverage. Rep. Glenn Gruenhagen, the bill’s author, said that voting against his bill amounted to rejecting the “Creator.”
Rep. Michele Bachmann hit the cable news circuit this week alleging that the Affordable Care Act contained $105 billion in “hidden” spending. She dubbed the revelation a “bombshell” and announced the news on Meet the Press, Fox’s Sean Hannity show, Fox’s “On the Record” with Greta Van Susteren and WCCO’s Sunday Morning with Esme Murphy over the last few days. Politifact found Bachmann’s claim to be “barely true,” but the Washington Post disagreed, giving Bachmann four of its “Pinocchios.”
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