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White House Says No ‘Veracity’ to Argument That Forcing Individuals to Buy Health Insurance...
CNS News ^ | 10/29/09 | Fred Lucas

Posted on 10/29/2009 12:36:57 PM PDT by Nachum

(CNSNews.com) – White House Spokesman Robert Gibbs told CNSNews.com on Wednesday that there is no "veracity" to the argument that the U.S. Constitution does not authorize the federal government to force individuals to buy health insurance.

The Congressional Budget Office has said that the federal government has never before in American history forced Americans to purchase any good or service.

When the health-care bill was being debated in the Senate Finance Committee, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), the former chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, raised questions about the constitutionality of forcing Americans to buy health insurance, which all congressional versions of the health care bill would do.

(Excerpt) Read more at cnsnews.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: house; unconstitutional; veracity; white

1 posted on 10/29/2009 12:36:58 PM PDT by Nachum
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To: Jet Jaguar; NorwegianViking; ExTexasRedhead; HollyB; FromLori; EricTheRed_VocalMinority; ...
The list, ping

Let me know if you would like to be on or off the ping list.

2 posted on 10/29/2009 12:38:01 PM PDT by Nachum (The complete Obama list at www.nachumlist.com)
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To: Nachum
The Congressional Budget Office has said that the federal government has never before in American history forced Americans to purchase any good or service.

Social Security is optional?

3 posted on 10/29/2009 12:39:02 PM PDT by a fool in paradise (I refuse to "reduce my carbon footprint" all while Lenin remains in an airconditioned shrine)
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To: Nachum

I hate when they use negatives like that.

“No Veracity to the argument that it’s not authorized”...

Means, it is authorized, and there is no argument. At least from this clown. I suppose they are somehow going to claim the commerce clause gives them this authority.


4 posted on 10/29/2009 12:42:04 PM PDT by Malsua
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To: Malsua

All sorts of garbage is authorized. The IRS (the enforcement arm of BarryCare) is basically going to run our lives.


5 posted on 10/29/2009 12:44:11 PM PDT by livius
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To: a fool in paradise

Actually it is. Congressman and Senators aren’t required to have it. And for many years federal employees had a different plan all together


6 posted on 10/29/2009 12:45:05 PM PDT by the long march
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To: Malsua

Baghdad Bob spouting off again.


7 posted on 10/29/2009 12:45:40 PM PDT by TexasRedeye (Eschew obfuscation)
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To: a fool in paradise

“Social Security is optional?”

One does not buy Social Security. It is a tax, first, then a subsidy, paid for by other people’s taxes, later.


8 posted on 10/29/2009 12:46:17 PM PDT by Tublecane
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To: Nachum
White House Spokesman Robert Gibbs told CNSNews.com on Wednesday that there is no "veracity" to the argument that the U.S. Constitution does not authorize the federal government to force individuals to buy health insurance.

The government will gently encourage everybody to select the government option by first driving all others out of business by low balling current health insurance rates. The people will select the cheaper option thus destroying the current free enterprise based health care system. Then our Marxist politicians will have power.

Of course our health care will then degrade to Cuba's or Canada's or Great Britain's and other socialist government health care systems. Taxes will increase. Incentive to excel will diminish or disappear. The once excellent world class health care system will be gone. Welcome to the Socialist Republic of the former USA.

9 posted on 10/29/2009 12:47:36 PM PDT by olezip
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To: Nachum
Photobucket
10 posted on 10/29/2009 12:47:39 PM PDT by Tzimisce (No thanks. We have enough government already. - The Tick)
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To: Nachum

While I would not use the word “veracity” -— I do believe that under our current system, the 0 only has to convince a majority of the 9 members of the SCOTUS, and he can do as he pleases. And logically, if the govt has the power to compel some citizens to serve others (as in emergency rooms), it has the power to compel others to pay them. Or if it’s permitted to take money from a taxpayer and give it to a non-taxpayer, in the form of assistance or services, it’s permitted to take MORE.
In short, the SCOTUS will back him up.
WASS.


11 posted on 10/29/2009 12:51:20 PM PDT by 668 - Neighbor of the Beast ( If you have kids, you have no right of privacy that the govt can't flick off your shoulder.)
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To: Malsua

I would have to back and find a source to be sure, but I seem to recall it was the CBO who said it was unconstitutional during the big hillarycare debate. Why wouldn’t it be now??


12 posted on 10/29/2009 12:58:07 PM PDT by gidget7 (Duncan Hunter-Valley Forge Republican!)
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To: olezip

I work for a staunch Marxist. He cannot wait for BOs healthcare plan to be realized so he can stop paying for our health insurance.


13 posted on 10/29/2009 1:02:12 PM PDT by Uversabound (Our Military past and present: Our Highest example of Brotherhood of Man & Doing God's Will)
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To: Nachum

Lincoln did away with slavery..... obama is he douple l bent on bringing it back! Only this time, he and his lib cohorts want to enslave the entire nation. Put us all under the Gov plantation control.


14 posted on 10/29/2009 1:02:42 PM PDT by GloriaJane (http://www.last.fm/user/GloriaJane)
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To: a fool in paradise

Back when I worked for the state here in Ohio it wasn’t taken out. We had our own plan.


15 posted on 10/29/2009 1:04:21 PM PDT by GloriaJane (http://www.last.fm/user/GloriaJane)
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To: gidget7
but I seem to recall it was the CBO who said it was unconstitutional during the big hillarycare debate

Very interesting. I didn't follow politics much in the early 90s. I was too busy working. I don't remember much about those discussions.

It's be nice if someone had a Lexus-Nexus account who could research that some.

16 posted on 10/29/2009 1:07:15 PM PDT by Malsua
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To: Nachum
If I am reading the following correctly, maybe not forced, but taxed if not have ACCEPTABLE HEALTH CARE COVERAGE

Page 297:

1 ‘‘SEC. 59B. TAX ON INDIVIDUALS WITHOUT ACCEPTABLE
2 HEALTH CARE COVERAGE.
3 ‘‘(a) TAX IMPOSED.—In the case of any individual
4 who does not meet the requirements of subsection (d) at
5 any time during the taxable year, there is hereby imposed
6 a tax equal to 2.5 percent of the excess of—
7 ‘‘(1) the taxpayer’s modified adjusted gross in-
8 come for the taxable year, over
9 ‘‘(2) the amount of gross income specified in
10 section 6012(a)(1) with respect to the taxpayer.
11 ‘‘(b) LIMITATIONS.—
12 ‘‘(1) TAX LIMITED TO AVERAGE PREMIUM.—
13 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The tax imposed
14 under subsection (a) with respect to any tax15 payer for any taxable year shall not exceed the
16 applicable national average premium for such
17 taxable year.
17 posted on 10/29/2009 1:07:25 PM PDT by algernonpj (He who pays the piper . . .)
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To: Nachum

Let these grounds be his Waterloo.


18 posted on 10/29/2009 1:08:15 PM PDT by BlueDragon (there is no such thing as a "true" compass, all are subject to bo th variation & deviation)
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To: Nachum
OK, let's try this, you know what Rush says, illustrate the absurd by being absurd.

Let's assume Congress passes a law that says all food must be bought only with government gruel coupons. You must buy these from the government to get food. You then take your government coupon down to the local gruel dealer and get your rations.

Come to think of it, there was a sci-fiction movie about just this — Soylent Green

And who thinks this is Constitutional? Just substitute government rationed healthcare for government rationed food and you find ... Yep it's unconstitutional.

Here is a link to a 1994 CBO study which says just this about the individual mandate to buy something from the government as a citizen, well it says it has never been done before in American history. My guess is that was their polite way of saying it is unconstitutional.

And about those medical records we are supposed to turn over top the government. And how does this square with the 4th Amendment? More Constitutional scholars are now saying it's not Constitutional, neither the plan, nor the medical records part.

19 posted on 10/29/2009 1:09:28 PM PDT by Tarpon (To destroy the people's liberties, you poison their morals ...)
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To: Nachum

Well it certainly seems unconstitutional to me. Perhaps this thing will be challenged immediately should it pass.


20 posted on 10/29/2009 1:10:56 PM PDT by farlander (Sic Semper Tyrannis)
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To: Malsua

Yes it would. I have not been reading much about the clinton-obama comparisons, but I seem to remember recently, either Sean or Rush mentioning it as one of the main things that did in hillarycare.


21 posted on 10/29/2009 1:16:01 PM PDT by gidget7 (Duncan Hunter-Valley Forge Republican!)
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To: Uversabound

Boy is he going to be surprised!`


22 posted on 10/29/2009 1:17:05 PM PDT by Lorianne
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To: Nachum

How long before owners of foreign cars are taxed for not buying from GM?


23 posted on 10/29/2009 1:19:01 PM PDT by spodefly (This is my tag line. There are many like it, but this one is mine.)
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To: Nachum

These pols have lied so much, they probably do not know truth when it hits them in the face.


24 posted on 10/29/2009 1:19:53 PM PDT by antidemoncrat
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To: spodefly

How long before blood runs in the streets?


25 posted on 10/29/2009 1:23:23 PM PDT by Sir Gawain
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To: 668 - Neighbor of the Beast
At first glance your argument seems to have some merit. However, when the following is considered, the argument cannot stand.

"In 1994, when the Clinton administration attempted to push a health care reform plan through a Democratic Congress that also mandated every American buy health insurance, the Congressional Budget Office determined that the government had never ordered Americans to buy anything."

“The government has never required people to buy any good or service as a condition of lawful residence in the United States,” the CBO analysis said.“ An individual mandate would have two features that, in combination, would make it unique. First, it would impose a duty on individuals as members of society. Second, it would require people to purchase a specific service that would be heavily regulated by the federal government.”

The bottom line is that both the First and Second requirements in the above are tantamount to Slavery. Do you seriously think that the United States Supreme Court would reinstate slavery?

26 posted on 10/29/2009 1:47:53 PM PDT by An Old Man (Use it up, Wear it out, Make it do, or Do without.)
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To: Sir Gawain
"How long before blood runs in the streets? "

Do you really need an answer to that question?

27 posted on 10/29/2009 1:49:16 PM PDT by An Old Man (Use it up, Wear it out, Make it do, or Do without.)
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To: a fool in paradise
Social Security is optional?

Yes it is!

28 posted on 10/29/2009 1:52:13 PM PDT by Logical me (Oh, well!!!)
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To: An Old Man
The bottom line is that both the First and Second requirements in the above are tantamount to Slavery. Do you seriously think that the United States Supreme Court would reinstate slavery?

I absolutely do think so. Most people won't object very vigorously; they are already slaves in spirit. Besides, the Court will not call it slavery. Are you going to haul them out and apply the tar, or the feathers? Are you going to fire back at the swat teams? Withhold your taxes? Leave the country? Impeach the justices?

What is to stop them? Email?

29 posted on 10/29/2009 1:55:46 PM PDT by 668 - Neighbor of the Beast ( If you have kids, you have no right of privacy that the govt can't flick off your shoulder.)
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To: Nachum
Its unconstitutional. But the Democrats don't care. They want to force us to buy health insurance for our own good, of course.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find only things evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelogus

30 posted on 10/29/2009 1:58:36 PM PDT by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
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To: algernonpj
I'd pay the fine than have the government run my life for me.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find only things evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelogus

31 posted on 10/29/2009 2:00:21 PM PDT by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
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To: 668 - Neighbor of the Beast
"Are you going to haul them out and apply the tar, or the feathers? Are you going to fire back at the swat teams? Withhold your taxes? Leave the country? Impeach the justices?"

Sure, what's good for the gander.... are you some kind of sissy?

32 posted on 10/29/2009 2:01:22 PM PDT by An Old Man (Use it up, Wear it out, Make it do, or Do without.)
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To: An Old Man
are you some kind of sissy

I do ok for a lady. No weightlifting, no needlepoint. I go once a day. How 'bout you?

33 posted on 10/29/2009 2:04:34 PM PDT by 668 - Neighbor of the Beast ( If you have kids, you have no right of privacy that the govt can't flick off your shoulder.)
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To: Malsua
I suppose they are somehow going to claim the commerce clause gives them this authority.

Nah, more likely that "General Welfare" business...

Regards,
GtG

34 posted on 10/29/2009 2:16:42 PM PDT by Gandalf_The_Gray (I live in my own little world, I like it 'cuz they know me here.)
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To: 668 - Neighbor of the Beast
Sorry bout that Madam.

Good to hear about your good health. It would seem that you will not be stepping up to the trough to partake of the governments generosity.

35 posted on 10/29/2009 2:20:20 PM PDT by An Old Man (Use it up, Wear it out, Make it do, or Do without.)
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To: An Old Man

Correct! God’s been generous with me. I will post your bail if we are in the same riot someday! ;)


36 posted on 10/29/2009 2:23:35 PM PDT by 668 - Neighbor of the Beast ( If you have kids, you have no right of privacy that the govt can't flick off your shoulder.)
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To: the long march; a fool in paradise
Congressman and Senators aren’t required to have it. And for many years federal employees had a different plan all together

Railroad employees also have a separate government administered pension plan.

Regards,
GtG

37 posted on 10/29/2009 2:24:04 PM PDT by Gandalf_The_Gray (I live in my own little world, I like it 'cuz they know me here.)
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To: Nachum

But Gibbs said those who make this kind of argument have no federal court cases to back them up.

“I won’t be confused as a constitutional scholar, but I don’t believe there’s a lot of—I don’t believe there’s a lot of case law that would demonstrate the veracity of what they’re commentating on,” said Gibbs.


Notice the mind set - everything is allowed unless there is case law to specifically prohibit it.

This is their attempt to shift the terms of the debate from (show me where the Constitution allows it) to (show me where case law prohibits us from doing it).

Leftists do this all the time, and they are good at it.


38 posted on 10/29/2009 2:55:23 PM PDT by Mack the knife
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To: Nachum

The constitution doesn’t mean jack. The pols will do what ever they like and if the people don’t like it ...so what? The pols understand that very well.


39 posted on 10/29/2009 3:00:24 PM PDT by paul51 (11 September 2001 - Never forget)
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To: Nachum

“The White House says...”

“The White House says...”

“Robert Gibbs says...”

“Nobama says...”

They are all liars.

SHOW ME EXACTLY where in the Constitution that it says they can force me to buy this mess of Congressional lies.


40 posted on 10/29/2009 3:24:06 PM PDT by ridesthemiles
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