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Barney, Frank: Admits Key Obamacare Clause Before Supreme Court Was 'Mistake'
NewsBusters ^ | Mark Finkelstein

Posted on 11/08/2014 7:54:37 AM PST by governsleastgovernsbest

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To: governsleastgovernsbest; PGR88
"One of the key architects of of Obamacare, Jonathan Gruber, has explained that they specifically wanted subsidies available only to the state-established exchanges - to provide a strong carrot and stick to Governors and State legislatures to “play ball” with the Federal Government. They simply did NOT expect 36 States to turn down free Fed money."

This statement should be bolded and circulated widely.

Frank's statement, while he may not have intended to be so "frank" (pun intended), is a statement of fact which indicates the sheer arrogance of the Obama-Reid-Pelosi team and their rubber stamp Democrats.

Arrogance and an underestimation of the intelligence and will of "the People" who are their bosses in the States brought about this "mistake" which the Supreme Court should not legitimize by allowing any other interpretation of the word "mistake" when applied to the abominable Trojan Horse legislation masked as having to do with health care in America.

Gruber's description, coming from a complicit architect of ACA, should be accepted as evidence of intent, and "the People" and "States" have spoken!

41 posted on 11/08/2014 10:03:12 AM PST by loveliberty2
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To: governsleastgovernsbest

This is what comes of having to pass bills in order to know what is in them, Bawney.


42 posted on 11/08/2014 10:05:13 AM PST by E. Pluribus Unum (Any energy source that requires a subsidy is, by definition, "unsustainable.")
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To: governsleastgovernsbest

This is what comes of having to pass bills in order to know what is in them, Bawney.


43 posted on 11/08/2014 10:05:14 AM PST by E. Pluribus Unum (Any energy source that requires a subsidy is, by definition, "unsustainable.")
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To: plain talk
rearranging of the deck chairs. none of this means much. even if the supremes get rid of this piece the rest stays

There is another glaring error. There is no severability clause. It isn't subject to a piecemeal modification.

44 posted on 11/08/2014 10:09:42 AM PST by Myrddin
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To: txhurl

Don’t forget, not all of those 14 states have 2 rat senators either. KY is one of the 14 states, so it is down to a max of 13 x2.


45 posted on 11/08/2014 10:11:26 AM PST by Beagle8U (If illegal aliens are undocumented immigrants, then shoplifters are undocumented customers.)
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To: sasquatch
No problem, Roberts will fix it.

Roberts is a strict constructionist and will interpret the relevant language in the Obamacare statute according to its clear wording, meaning that he rule against the government on this.

46 posted on 11/08/2014 10:12:22 AM PST by KevinB (Barack Obama: Our first black, gay, Kenyan, Socialist, Muslim president!)
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To: plain talk
rearranging of the deck chairs. none of this means much. even if the supremes get rid of this piece the rest stays
It’s perfectly true that if SCOTUS holds for the appellant, the only thing that will happen is that the residents of many states, presumably all of them with Republican governors, will not get subsidized. Which is an enormous political embarrassment in the sense that the Democrat schemers intentionally wrote this part of the bill the way they did in a blatant attempt to “roll” all Republican governors. They thought they would electorally destroy any Republican who stood against the ACA. And for their trouble all they got was the 2010 and 2014 election results.

They managed to bluff the GOPe in 2012, getting George RomneyCare for a Washington Generals opponent - but now they are looking into the maw of a presidential election with no Democrat incumbent POTUS and with Captain Ahab heading their party.

This SCOTUS case might focus the minds of surviving Democrat senators from 2010 who will face a bloody-minded electorate in ’16 if ObamaCare isn’t drastically modified long enough before the election to take it off the table before then. Even the class of ’12 has to know that they need to get out from under the ObamaCare albatross before ’18 rolls around.

Trouble is, we all face a bloody-minded POTUS for the next two 1/4 years. IMHO we need a constitutional amendment to make it possible to impeach the president without a 2/3 vote of the Senate. Don’t want to throw out the baby with the bathwater, but a different mechanism is needed.


47 posted on 11/08/2014 10:20:14 AM PST by conservatism_IS_compassion ("Liberalism” is a conspiracy against the public by wire-service journalism.)
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To: PGR88
One of the key architects of of Obamacare, Jonathan Gruber, has explained that they specifically wanted subsidies available only to the state-established exchanges

Here Gruber is saying just that. By the way, Gruber sounds like he could be Barney's husband.

48 posted on 11/08/2014 10:20:35 AM PST by KevinB (Barack Obama: Our first black, gay, Kenyan, Socialist, Muslim president!)
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To: Myrddin
It isn't subject to a piecemeal modification.

Sure it is. Congress could easily amend it by adding a provision saying that those people in states that haven't set up exchanges will also qualify for subsidies. Congress won't do that, of course, now that it is firmly in Republican control.

A severability clause says that if a provision in the statute is deemed to be unenforceable, it will not affect the enforceability of the balance of the statute. This is not an enforceability issue, but an interpretation issue.

49 posted on 11/08/2014 10:30:15 AM PST by KevinB (Barack Obama: Our first black, gay, Kenyan, Socialist, Muslim president!)
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To: governsleastgovernsbest

so once the supremes enforce strict construction and the obamacare enrollees get the bill for the actual costs, what? the republicans wait until the boiling point is reached, and then propose forgiveness of individual debts along with a general repeal of the entire bill?


50 posted on 11/08/2014 11:14:36 AM PST by SteveH (First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win.)
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To: plain talk
rearranging of the deck chairs. none of this means much. even if the supremes get rid of this piece the rest stays

I believe the penalties (tax) for not buying insurance are also involved in this case. If there are no subsidies, there can be no tax for not buying the product.

51 posted on 11/08/2014 11:23:34 AM PST by etcb
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To: Revel

-— There is a song on youtube called “Dreamer” -—

I hear you. But hear me now and believe me later. I think the conventional wisdom is beginning to change. Obamacare no longer seems inevitable. And after the election, it’s beginning to look like something for flabby losers. Obamacare supporters now appear to be on the wrong side of history. They don’t want to “make history” for the wrong reason. They’ll just want to give this thing two in the hat and quickly forget about it.


52 posted on 11/08/2014 11:47:51 AM PST by St_Thomas_Aquinas ( Isaiah 22:22, Matthew 16:19, Revelation 3:7)
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To: governsleastgovernsbest

If I recall correctly, there weren’t 60 votes for Federal exchanges.

The Bill was written this way so it could pass.


53 posted on 11/08/2014 11:59:33 AM PST by Jim Noble (When strong, avoid them. Attack their weaknesses. Emerge to their surprise.)
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To: Zeppo
The part of the law in question was intended by the Demo/Commies to coerce states into building exchanges. It was no mistake and it was no accident.

Right so that the States would get equal blame for the crime of 0Kare
Liberal states built them...most of them probably. States with some common sense leadership wanted nothing to do with this Federale dreck

54 posted on 11/08/2014 12:14:10 PM PST by dennisw (The first principle isI am ap to find out who you are then you can achieve anything -- Buddhist monk)
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To: governsleastgovernsbest

PPACA architect Jonathan Gruber openly brags about the benefits of political deception.

“this bill was written in a tortured way to make sure CBO did not score the mandate as taxes.”

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3224927/posts?page=4


55 posted on 11/08/2014 1:20:55 PM PST by Ray76 (We must destroy the Uniparty or be destroyed by them.)
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To: governsleastgovernsbest

I have a great idea! Why not just fix the law when the justices hear it? They could just make it say what they think it should say and enforce it that way!

Wait...uh...they do that already??
Never mind.


56 posted on 11/08/2014 1:53:28 PM PST by BDParrish (O God, please bless America!)
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To: KevinB
Roberts is a strict constructionist and will interpret the relevant language in the Obamacare statute according to its clear wording, meaning that he rule against the government on this.

That must be why he opined that the word, "penalty" does not mean a penalty, but really means, "tax", which he strictly based on the enumerated Health Care power in the Constitution

Cordially,

57 posted on 11/08/2014 3:15:46 PM PST by Diamond (He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people,)
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To: Diamond
That must be why he opined that the word, "penalty" does not mean a penalty, but really means, "tax", which he strictly based on the enumerated Health Care power in the Constitution

You certainly get an A+ for snideness.

The tax code has been used for decades to encourage certain behaviors. A good example is the mortgage interest deduction. Congress wanted to encourage home ownership so it provided for a mortgage interest deduction. The "penalty" is the converse of that. Congress (at the time) wanted to encourage people to buy health insurance so it provided for a penalty to those who did not do so. Whether it's called a penalty or a tax is merely a matter of semantics. The administration argued before the Supreme Court that the penalty is a tax and I think they and Roberts were right about that. I know many people disagree with me, but I'm a lawyer and know quite a bit about this subject. I am certain that Roberts will rule against the administration on the subsidy issue.

58 posted on 11/08/2014 6:30:10 PM PST by KevinB (Barack Obama: Our first black, gay, Kenyan, Socialist, Muslim president!)
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To: KevinB
Then upon the proposition that Roberts is a strict constructionis, I thank you. I'm not a lawyer but I prefer Scalia's clear logic over Roberts' contortionistic manipulation of the language, which demonstrates beyond cavil that Roberts at least on this landmark case, was not a strict constructionist.
"[W]e have never—never—treated as a tax an exaction which faces up to the critical difference between a tax and a penalty, and explicitly denominates the exaction a 'penalty.' Eighteen times in §5000A itself and elsewhere throughout the Act, Congress called the exaction in §5000A(b) a 'penalty.'"

".. We have no doubt that Congress knew precisely what it was doing when it rejected an earlier version of this legislation that imposed a tax instead of a requirement-with-penalty. See Affordable Health Care for America Act, H. R. 3962, 111th Cong., 1st Sess., §501 (2009); America’s Healthy Future Act of 2009, S. 1796, 111th Cong., 1st Sess., §1301."

"..The Court today decides to save a statute Congress did not write. It rules that what the statute declares to be a requirement with a penalty is instead an option subject to a tax."

Cordially,
59 posted on 11/08/2014 7:59:58 PM PST by Diamond (He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people,)
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To: Adder
Can’t wait for the hue and cry when they have to claw back the subsidies already given.

But, then, the Republican Congress will come to the rescue -- and amend the bill to allow subsidies.

For the chil'run...

60 posted on 11/08/2014 8:15:38 PM PST by okie01
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