Monday, July 2, 2012

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbot on Obamacare

I just sat in on Americans for Prosperity -- Texas conference call with Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott.    Attorney General Abbott was one of the plaintiffs in the Obamacare suit.  Some quick hits:
  • "The New Taxing Authority will Empower Congress in an almost unlimited way" -- This expansion of the Federal Taxing power essentially allows Congress to tax you for ANYTHING.  While Congress may not be able to regulate economic inactivity under the commerce clause, they can tax that same inactivity to achieve the same result.  For example, one of the callers asked Attorney General Abbott if Congress could now require us to purchase an 'eco-friendly' car and tax us if we didn't; according to Attorney General Abbott, they could.
  • No Judge prior to Roberts had ruled the mandate a tax -- Just further proof of how Roberts made the whole thing up out of thin air.
  • If the Mandate is now a tax, then it's eligible for Reconciliation -- Confirms something that I already knew, but it's important because it means that we only need 51 votes in the United States Senate to repeal it, instead of 60.
  • There may be some aspects of Obamacare in which Texas can refuse to participate -- According to Attorney General Abbott, Texas can refuse to participate in the Exchanges and the Medicaid expansion.  He said he expected we would hear news on these areas shortly.  He also said they would go back and seek to figure out other ways to get Texas out of this program.
  • We've already filed a lawsuit against the infanticide mandate -- Texas has already filed a suit against the infanticide mandate that is currently working its way through the courts.  Attorney General Abbott's office will continue to investigate new ways to challenge Obamacare in court.
Ultimately, this comes down to the voters.  While Texas might be able to alter the law at the margins, the easiest way to get rid of this thing is to just elect conservatives in sufficient number.  Onward to November....


Update: Will Lutz has More....

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