Conservatives Prematurely And Foolishly Gloat Over DC Court’s Obamacare Ruling

ted-cruz

 

Republicans who have spent the past few years doing everything they possibly can to obstruct and repeal the Affordable Care Act felt pretty good about themselves Tuesday morning. In a confusing decision that is likely to be overturned by the full D.C. Circuit Court, the D.C. Court of Appeals ruled that anyone who has purchased health insurance on the federal healthcare exchange is ineligible for subsidies available through the health care law. Based on ambiguous wording in one section of the law, the two conservative judges on the panel decided that only those who went through a state-run exchange could receive tax credits and other subsidies to help offset the cost of insurance premiums.

Of course, just hours later, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals came back with a ruling in a separate but similar case that was completely opposite, stating that the Obama Administration has the legal ability to issue subsidies based on its interpretation of the law. The morning’s national headlines that blared out that Obamacare was possibly dead due to this ‘shocking’ ruling were later muted to reflect the ‘mixed’ and ‘contradicting’ rulings by the two courts. What was supposed to be a huge victory for ACA’s opponents turned out to be a dud. The D.C. Court of Appeals ruling will likely be tossed by the full D.C. Circuit Court while the Fourth Circuit Court’s decision is consistent with other recent court decisions on cases of this nature.

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Unfortunately for some Republicans, they jumped the gun on their celebrations over the impending death of Obamacare. Not realizing there was a similar case being with a decision pending in the Fourth Circuit Court, Washington Republicans and conservative pundits released statements, took to Twitter or blathered on the radio about the “historic” ruling made by the D.C. court. In the timeframe between the announcement of the two decisions, conservatives frankly made fools of themselves as they prematurely gloated.

First off, we have Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), who has been one of the most vocal opponents of the health care law since he was elected in 2012. In fact, he even staged a government shutdown last year due to his opposition to Obamacare. Immediately after the D.C. court’s ruling came out, Cruz released the following statement:

“The D.C. Circuit’s decision today in Halbig v. Burwell is a repudiation of Obamacare and all the lawlessness that has come with it,” said Sen. Cruz. “The Obama Administration, through the Internal Revenue Service, has attempted to dispense revenues to the states without proper congressional authorization, robbing Congress of its constitutionally-provided power of the purse. This decision restores power to Congress and to the people and if properly enforced, should shield citizens from Obamacare’s insidious penalties, mandates, and subsidies. This is a significant victory for the American people and the rule of law, but we must not rest. Americans will continue to lose jobs, pay higher premiums, and receive fewer healthcare choices because of this disastrous law. Every last word of Obamacare must be repealed to restore jobs, growth, and opportunity in our country.”

Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) also got in on the action. Boehner has held out hope that Republicans’ objections to the Affordable Care Act will pay big dividends for them in the 2014 midterms. The Speaker also used his statement on Tuesday to push his Quixotic lawsuit against the Obama Administration.

“For the second time in a month, the courts have ruled against the president’s unilateral actions regarding ObamaCare. The president has demonstrated he believes he has the power to make his own laws. That’s not the way our system of government was designed to work. That’s why the House will act next week to authorize a lawsuit to uphold the rule of law and protect our Constitution. This isn’t about Republicans versus Democrats; it’s about the Constitution versus unconstitutional and unilateral actions by the Executive Branch, and protecting our democracy.

“Today’s ruling is also further proof that President Obama’s health care law is completely unworkable. It cannot be fixed. The American people recognize that ObamaCare is hurting our economy and making it harder for small businesses to hire, and that’s why Republicans remain committed to repealing the law and replacing it with solutions that will lower health care costs and protect American jobs.”

The Speaker also sent out a couple of tweets to express his approval over the court’s ruling.

 

 

 

Not to be outdone by Republican lawmakers, conservative blowhard Rush Limbaugh spent a good portion of his program on Tuesday declaring Obamacare dead.

LIMBAUGH: So everybody who has purchased Obamacare through HealthCare.gov, the federal exchange, essentially, and has gotten a subsidy is now disallowed. That’s it, in a nutshell. And that’s the law. This is a huge day, at least temporarily, for the rule of law. Folks, the law couldn’t be plainer. And this poor writer at the LA Time (imitating writer), “It’s just a glitch in the wording. Come on, people, it’s just a glitch.” Glitch in the wording? The law is the law and Obama hasn’t liked it 71 different times and has changed it, in order to protect Democrats at election time. Everybody that’s paying scant attention knows this.

It’s a huge day for the rule of law here. The DC circuit, 2-1 vote — now, there are a number of different ways this can go. It’s by no means over. The losing side, in this case the Regime, can ask for an en banc ruling or hearing. That means ask for every judge to hear and vote on the case at the DC circuit which would — I don’t know how many judges are on that circuit, usually 12, 13, it could be up to 20, I just don’t know the number. But every case starts with a three-judge panel, and then the losers can ask for en banc, and then after that you go to the Supreme Court, if they take it.

And then if the Supreme Court takes the — if this ruling holds, if they go en banc and it holds will this, and then if the Supreme Court decides to take it then we’re back with Chief Justice Roberts and will he want to bail Obama out a second time. The Supreme Court could also decide, “Nope, we’re not gonna hear it. Lower court ruling, DC circuit ruling stands, we’re outta here.” There’s any number of things that can happen, but right now all of the people that got subsidies at HealthCare.gov are essentially in violation of the law.

 

Once the Fourth Circuit Court’s ruling hit Tuesday afternoon — crickets. Imagine that.

 


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