In a recent op-ed at The Federalist, I argued Donald Trump has serious leverage over both Republicans and Democrats in Congress when it comes to ObamaCare:
President Trump can force Republicans and Democrats back to the negotiating table, and get a bill that keeps his promises to fully repeal Obamacare and to protect people with preexisting conditions…by simply undoing the illegal actions by his predecessor, which he has also already promised to do.
One of those illegal actions is the illegal exemption from ObamaCare that President Barack Obama granted members of Congress and their staffs.
Another is the illegal “cost-sharing” subsidies President Obama began issuing — and that President Trump is still issuing — to insurers participating in ObamaCare’s Exchanges. In a case where the House of Representatives challenged the payments, a federal judge ruled that issuing those payments “violates the Constitution” and ordered them to stop, pending appeal. The Obama administration was pursuing an appeal, but the Trump administration has not indicated whether it would continue to appeal that ruling or enforce the judge’s order. Trump must do one or the other.
Two of President Trump’s cabinet picks have practically forced his hand on this issue.
When the federal district-court judge issued her ruling striking down the cost-sharing subsidy payments, Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price was a Republican member of Congress. He issued a statement endorsing the ruling:
Today, Congressman Tom Price, M.D. issued the following statement after a federal judge ruled in favor of House Republicans’ lawsuit against Obamacare, saying that the Administration does not have the power to spend money on “cost sharing reduction payments” to insurers without an appropriation from Congress:
“The ruling proves a momentous victory for the rule of law and against the Obama Administration’s overreach of Constitutional authority,” said Congressman Tom Price, M.D. “This historic decision defies the Obama’s Administration’s ask that the courts disregard the letter of the law and reasserts Congress’s power of the purse as defined by our nation’s founders in Article One of the Constitution.”
“In recent weeks, we’ve seen insurers announce that they will exit the exchange markets in 2017, further deteriorating patients’ access and choice to health care plans that they want. This is yet again proof that Obamacare is on an unsustainable path, and House Republicans must remain committed to repealing and replacing this law. As a member of the Health Care Task Force, I’m honored to be working with my colleagues to advance positive, patient-centered solutions to the challenges in our health care system.”
Price has made clear his view that Congress did not appropriate funding for these payments, and that continuing to make them would constitute executive overreach and violate the rule of law. If President Trump chooses to appeal the lower-court ruling, he would put Price in a situation where he would have to help implement a policy that he considers unconstitutional. Price arguably would have to resign.
Yesterday, Trump’s attorney general Jeff Sessions expressed his view that the payments are unconstitutional and that the lawsuit challenging those payments “has validity to it.” If Trump chooses to appeal the lower-court ruling, Sessions would be the guy who carries out that appeal. It would be…awkward for him to defend a policy he believes to be unconstitutional. If Trump asks him to do so, Sessions too may have to resign.
Continuing President Obama’s illegal cost-sharing reduction payments could cost President Trump two cabinet officials.
