Posted on 10/21/2009 7:56:56 AM PDT by Sub-Driver
Hoyer Says Constitution’s ‘General Welfare’ Clause Empowers Congress to Order Americans to Buy Health Insurance Wednesday, October 21, 2009 By Matt Cover
(CNSNews.com) – House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said that the individual health insurance mandates included in every health reform bill, which require Americans to have insurance, were “like paying taxes.” He added that Congress has “broad authority” to force Americans to purchase other things as well, so long as it was trying to promote “the general welfare.”
The Congressional Budget Office, however, has stated in the past that a mandate forcing Americans to buy health insurance would be an “unprecedented form of federal action,” and that the “government has never required people to buy any good or service as a condition of lawful residence in the United States.”
Hoyer, speaking to reporters at his weekly press briefing on Tuesday, was asked by CNSNews.com where in the Constitution was Congress granted the power to mandate that a person must by a health insurance policy. Hoyer said that, in providing for the general welfare, Congress had “broad authority.”
(Excerpt) Read more at cnsnews.com ...
After a long train of usurpations....
lol
I recall a study that found people who go to church, and more recently one that found people in “groups” have better health. By his logic congress could force people to go to church and ... well there is just no end to the things that promote the general welfare.
18 powers dumbass and Socialized Medicine is not one of them.
The General Welfare clause could also be used to get rid of the crooks in Washington.....like Rangle and his buddies.
The tenth Amendment seems to support the idea that the governments powers are only those that are clearly defined and all others are left to the states. It would seem to me that based on the Constitution and the 10th amendment the entitlement programs of welfare and the like should have never been taken on at the federal level. They aren’t given that power. They’ve simply assumed it on their own.
Steny needs to read the preamble of The Bill of Rights. Then again that might be hard to find. Last year I took the time to review four history books used at the local school districts in my area. Within the books they had the US Constitution but all were minus the preamble to the Bill of Rights. Which basically sates that the rights of the individuals are protected from the main body of the US Constitution.
YEP! many of those signs! torches & pitchforks & ??? next time!
SCOTUS is as much a group of elitist big government hacks as is the Congress and the president. I would not expect relief here, that health care is out of bounds as far as federal legislation goes. We live under all sorts of federal regulation that at least indirectly forces us to buy certain things or services.
Looked at another way, if forcing people to obtain health insurance is unconstitutional, then Romney-care is unconstitutional.
Throw these traitors in prison.
"All traitors have been captured"
That's a General Welfare!
I wonder if buying a subscription to the NYT could be considered promoting the general welfare?
The Declaration of Independence is our real founding document.
Nitpicky distinction: the Supreme Court held that the Social Security payroll tax is not unconstitutional. But, that tax doesn't constitutionally obligate the government to pay you anything in return. You're taxed, and then when you're old, there's another government program that sends you checks. As far as the Court was concerned, the SS tax is just like any other federal income tax.
Thus, the SS payroll tax survives under the government's taxing power, and the SS benefits program survives under the government's spending power. The unbelievably massive flaw in this scheme is that Congress is fully empowered to collect SS taxes from you for decades, and then pay you nothing in return. This is just one reason why SS is a terrible program.
Mandated health-insurance purchasing laws, however, wouldn't be able to pass muster under the taxation or spending powers of Congress. I imagine that's why Hoyer is trying to claim it's a 'general welfare' power.
ping
When we take the country back one of the first things that needs to be done is trash 99% of the history &government books being used in public schools and replace with books that actually tell our real history and government.
Hoyer said that, in providing for the general welfare, Congress had “broad authority.”
When the people fear government, you have tyranny.
When the government fears the people, you have liberty.
just imagine where this is leading....
Federal mandates for citizens to purchase
- bicycle helmets
- athletic cup & supporter
- condoms
- oven mitts
- safety goggles
- steel toed boots
etc. etc. etc. ETC. ETC. ECT!!!!!!!
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