Posted on 09/25/2013 8:02:49 AM PDT by Kaslin
In the next few days, politicians in Washington, D.C., will do and say many things to make it look and sound as if they are against Obamacare when in fact they are ultimately planning to use the power that has been vested in them by the people of their districts and states to ensure that Obamacare is funded and implemented.
But make no mistake: If Obamacare is funded and implemented it will be because Republican members of Congress decided to do it.
This is not a debatable supposition. It is an irrefutable fact. The fate of Obamacare is controlled completely by Republicans -- period.
Article 1, Section 9, Clause 7 of the Constitution says: "No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in consequence of appropriations made by law." That means that President Barack Obama cannot spend a dollar out of the Treasury unless Congress has enacted a law authorizing him to spend that dollar. As of now, the law authorizing Obama to spend dollars expires on Sept. 30.
Both houses of Congress must pass a bill and the president must sign that bill for it to become law. If the House does not pass a bill authorizing Obama to spend money implementing Obamacare in the period after Sept. 30, Obama cannot spend money for that purpose.
Last week, the Republican-controlled House approved a bill to fund the government after Sept. 30 that specifically states that "no Federal funds shall be made available to carry out any provisions" of Obamacare and that prohibits all the new "entitlements and benefits" under Obamacare from taking effect.
As long as House Republicans insist on keeping this language in any legislation enacted to fund the government after Sept. 30, Obamacare is dead.
If House Republicans decide to remove this language, Obamacare will live. And, if House Republicans decide to let Obamacare live now, it almost certainly will live (or evolve into a single-payer health care system) as long as America itself manages to stumble along under the accumulating burden of it and all the other welfare-state programs that have been created in this nation since President Franklin Roosevelt first began building an American welfare state in the 1930s.
It will not matter if Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., refuses to move a government funding bill through the Senate that includes the House language defunding Obamacare. It will not matter if Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. and the majority of Senate Republicans -- except Ted Cruz, R-Texas, Mike Lee, R-Utah, and a few other stalwarts -- decide to let Reid pass legislation to fund Obamacare by a simple majority vote. It will not matter if Obama vows to veto any legislation that includes the House language that prohibits funding for Obamacare.
Unless the Republican-controlled House passes legislation that permits funding of Obamacare, Obamacare is dead.
The strategic framework of this battle is simple: Every thing Obama, Senate Democrats and their allies in the liberal media are doing in this fight seeks a single end -- making House Republicans enact legislation funding the implementation of Obamacare.
If Obama, Senate Democrats and their allies in the liberal media cannot make House Republicans fund Obamacare, they lose and America wins.
So the question is this: Why would House Republicans abandon their current principled position and go ahead and fund Obamacare?
In general terms, this answer is also simple: They will only do it if they believe that for enacting legislation to fund Obamacare they will get something they value even more in return.
But what could that be?
To answer that it is first necessary to weigh the value of what the Republicans would get if they hold their ground and stop Obamacare. In that case, they would preserve a large measure of American freedom that is imminently threatened.
Under Obamacare, for the first time ever, the federal government will force American citizens to buy a product they do not want.
Under Obamacare, the administration will give tax dollars to insurance plans that pay for abortions -- the deliberate taking of innocent life.
Under Obamacare, the administration will force Catholics and other Christians to buy and/or provide coverage for services -- including sterilizations, artificial contraceptives and abortion-inducing drugs -- that violate the teachings of their faith.
Obamacare will annihilate both freedom of conscience and innocent human lives -- in the babies aborted by its subsidies.
Could Obama and Senate Democrats and the liberal media offer anything of such great value that House Republicans should trade it for this?
No.
“Why is not Boehner doing a Reid saying, “anything that funds obamacare is DOA?”
Because Boehner and about 3/4 of his caucus accept the principles behind Obamacare.
They object to some details, but repeal or defunding is not on their agenda. If they had the power (291 Members + 67 Senators) there’s not a chance they would repeal it.
If Obamacare is to go, the pro-repeal Members (those who would vote for it if it could actually pass and then override) need to split from the GOP. The only chance we have is to fight the election of 2014 on repeal, and the GOP can’t lead that fight because they don’t want to.
Yeah, and who is to blame for that? I tell you who. Those voters who stayed home last November and that includes many freepers
Stopping 0bamacare kinda IS the hill we need to die on.
This POS ‘law’ is the gateway to economic collapse.
Of course, those that REPRESENT us fail to see this.
And it’s All. By. Design. Comrades. ;)
Didn’t Cantor say that the House defunding was just for show, because the fix is in on the reconciliation process? As long as the Senate votes for cloture the Senate and House versions will have to be reconciled, and the guy who would do that (Cantor) has said all the defunding stuff was just political cover and the intention has always been to get Obamacare in.
If that is the case, it seems to me that we need to be starting recall efforts against Cantor and Boehner just to let them know their time is DONE if they sell us down the river for a show.
And it seems to me that we need to be getting pledges from our Representatives, that they will not vote for ANY legislation that funds Obamacare - even a “reconciled” version. If amendments are not allowed to the reconciled version and it comes back with Obamacare funded, then our R’s have to buck the negotiations of the treasonous leadership and vote down the reconciled version. Before that happens they should be letting Boehner and Cantor know that they will be standing alone in support of any reconciled version that includes Obamacare funding.
How do we get these things to happen, very quickly?
That wasn’t very clear. The Representatives need to tell Boehner and Cantor that the House will not back them if them come back from negotiations with a version that funds Obamacare. If they sell the family jewels in the reconciliation process, the rank-and-file R’s in the House will embarrass the leadership by voting down the reconciled version. That’s what they need to let Boehner and Cantor know.
And if we the people started a recall effort against Cantor and Boehner it might help them take it seriously. Is that even possible?
No go. There is no recall of a federal Congressman.
See the Constitution.
If true, sounds like Cantor is a traitor. Boehner too. The sooner they’re replaced the better. Doubt they can be kicked out though, short of an election.
Dang.
I’ve been looking for the stories so I can be clear on what the sourcing is. Here we go. Breitbart obtained a memo that Cantor sent out to all the House R’s, telling them the plan:
Later Ted Cruz spoke out against this and was flamed by Pete Sessions. That was apparently when the GOP-e started really badly lashing out at Cruz, because he was pushing to have something REALLY defund Obamacare, and not just be a symbolic fig leaf for R’s:
Sounds to me like Cantor and Boehner wanted Obamacare to be funded so they could blame it on the dems in 2014. And it sounds to me like Cruz and Lee are saying that Obamacare is such a train wreck that it’s too important to play politics with. It’s not about blame for political points in the future; it’s about stopping this thing right now, the only way we can.
The GOP-e’s don’t want the blame of shutting down the government and they want to be able to blame Obamacare on the dems. It’s not really about stopping Obamacare before it gets entrenched and destroys the economy fully. It’s about scoring political points for 2014.
Now, more than ever, is when we need to show up in DC for a giant sit-in.
I’m for that, and it’s long overdue!!! Split it up!!
They want to be on TV so badly that if they ever leave office they’ll put on a pair of red pants and embarrass themselves on DANCING WITH THE STARS.
If the republicans cave on this, then turn around and run for re-election because they “wanted” to defund obamacare, we should all laugh in their faces. Why in the hell would anyone trust them to do what they say they will do?
The columnist is on target correct. The Congressional Republicans need to do what is best for the country—which coincidentally is best for their party.
If they fail to act to stop Obamacare now, when they have the ability, they will be the ones held to account in the next election cycle for it.
Even if Obama threatens to shut down the government until the Kwanzaa season if the ACA isn’t funded, holding firm is the only way to handle this.
BTW, shutting down the government was by no means as traumatic as forecast in 1995, Clinton was brought to heel and the people did get real welfare reform, and the GOP won the 1996 congressional elections.
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