Life Advocacy Briefing

It’s Not Over

THOUGH READERS WILL NOT FIND US STRUGGLING TO FIND A SILVER LINING in the Obominable Roberts ruling of June 28, we will take note of two salient points: 1) further lawsuits against ObamaCare are pending and 2) the contrived Roberts “tax” label could facilitate repeal in the next Congress.

The Roberts ruling responded to the lawsuit led by Florida, but another challenge to ObamaCare – brought by Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli – is still making its way through the courts.

And then there is the second round: Lawsuits have been filed against the abortifacient drug mandate imposed by Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health & Human Services, as part of the Obama Regime’s implementation scheme. The Roberts ruling did not touch issues such as religious liberty infringement.

Further, the claim by the Supreme Court majority opinion that the individual mandate penalty “could be” read as a tax could render the expected repeal legislation exempt from the Senate’s filibuster rule. Bills brought up under “budget reconciliation” are not subject to filibuster in the upper house; though many Americans believe legislation relating to taxation should require a supermajority to pass, in reality, Senate rules drop the needed majority to 51, rather than the 60 votes which would be required to end debate if the legislation came up under regular rules.

“‘Reconciliation is now available [as a parliamentary tactic], because the Supreme Court has now declared it a tax,’ [Senate GOP Leader Mitch] McConnell said on CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday,” quoted by Sam Baker in The Hill. “‘They have unearthed the massive deception that was practiced by the President and the Democrats,’” Sen. McConnell said in the Hill report on the television interview, “‘constantly denying that it was a tax. As a tax, it is eligible for reconciliation.’”

And Besides …

NOW THAT THE SUPREME COURT HAS REFUSED TO HONOR the Constitution and sided with the Obama Regime’s drive to seize control of America’s healthcare system – and of healthcare consumers’ lives – ObamaCare repeal is likely to become one of the top issues in the November election. Certainly it should be for pro-life citizens.

ObamaCare not only has brought us the abortifacient drug mandate, but it also imposes an insurance premium abortion mandate – forcing every American who purchases an insurance policy to pay a surcharge to cover the costs of abortions.

Further, it offers a huge cash subsidy to the abortion industry at, essentially, taxpayer expense.

The reasons go on and on for pro-life voters to view a candidate’s position on ObamaCare repeal as representing the candidate’s view on protecting – or jeopardizing – human life.

Putting It to a Vote

HOUSE LEADERS ARE EXPECTED TO PUT A PROPOSAL before the House during this week’s session to repeal ObamaCare – or at the least, to block IRS implementation of the ObamaCare tax.

ObamaCare repeal was one of the first proposals to pass the House when the 112th Congress convened. Though HR-2 passed the House on Jan. 19, 2011, by a vote of 245 to 189, the legislation was never taken up by the US Senate.

Now that the matter is being brought up in an election year – at a time when the Supreme Court has essentially refused to take the matter out of the hands of Congress and at a time when the Obama Regime has shown its hand on the trampling of religious conscience – votes of individual Members this week will be of particular interest to pro-life citizens.

We urge readers to call their House Member (202/224-3121) to request a vote in favor of repealing ObamaCare and to block its implementation. Make no assumptions about a Member’s vote, either way.

Congress to Governors: Help Us Stop This!

A GROUP OF 12 U.S. SENATORS & 62 REPRESENTATIVES HAVE SENT A LETTER to the nation’s governors asking them not to set up the state insurance exchanges authorized by the ObamaCare law. The letter was addressed to the National Governors Assn.

Refusing to implement the law at the state level will aid US lawmakers, the group indicates, in their drive to repeal the massive federal takeover of medical care.

We publish at the close of this Life Advocacy Briefing the text of the letter, which was circulated by Sen. Jim DeMint (SC) and Representatives Michele Bachmann (MN) and Jim Jordan (OH), all Republicans. Readers are invited to use the information in the letter to formulate their own messages to their governors to reinforce the appeal from the legislators.

In a news release accompanying the letter, Sen. DeMint commented, “Americans have loudly rejected this law, because it raises costs, lowers quality of care and hikes taxes.” (Also, Senator, its implementation unconstitutionally forces millions of Americans to violate our consciences.) He went on, “The President’s healthcare law will not reform anything but will hurt state budgets, destroy jobs and reduce patient choices. … Now that we know the courts will not save us from this harmful and unsustainable law, we urge all governors to join our fight for full repeal by stopping its implementation.”

Rep. Bachmann said, “I encourage all 50 governors to do what’s best for the American people. They should refuse to implement an exchange and instead work towards commonsense solutions that lower costs and return important healthcare decisions to patients and their doctors.”

And Rep. Jim Jordan, chairman of the House Republican Study Committee, issued this comment: “The harmful impact on jobs is just one of many reasons we remain committed to fully repealing this law. If governors want to raise the cost of hiring people in their states, they should create an ObamaCare exchange. If they want more jobs in their state, they should not. It’s that simple.”

Signers of Letter to Governors

THE LAWMAKERS SIGNING THE LETTER TO THE GOVERNORS, in addition to the circulators, are: GOP Senators Jeff Sessions & Richard Shelby (AL), Marco Rubio (FL), Rand Paul (KY), David Vitter (LA), Tom Coburn (OK), Pat Toomey (PA), Lindsey Graham (SC), John Cornyn (TX), Ron Johnson (WI) and Michael Enzi (WY).

Also Republican Representatives Robert Aderholt (AL); Trent Franks (AZ); Brian Bilbray, Mary Bono-Mack, Ken Calvert, Jeff Denham, Dan Lungren & Tom McClintock (CA); Sandy Adams, Jeff Miller, Cliff Stearns & Allen West (FL); Paul Broun, Phil Gingrey & Lynn Westmoreland (GA); Raul Labrador (ID); Don Manzullo & Joe Walsh (IL); Larry Bucshon & Todd Rokita (IN); Steve King (IA); Tim Huelskamp, Lynn Jenkins & Mike Pompeo (KS); Brett Guthrie (KY); Charles Boustany, Jeff Landry & Steve Scalise (LA); Andy Harris (MD); Justin Amash, Dan Benishek & Tim Walberg (MI);

Continuing, GOP Representatives Todd Akin, JoAnn Emerson & Billy Long (MO); Scott Garrett (NJ); Ann Marie Buerkle (NY); Renee Ellmers (NC); James Lankford (OK); Joe Pitts (PA); Jeff Duncan, Trey Gowdy & Joe Wilson (SC); Marsha Blackburn, Chuck Fleischmann, Phil Roe & Scott DesJarlais (TN); Francisco Canseco, Bill Flores, Louie Gohmert, Jeb Hensarling, Michael McCaul, Pete Olson, Ron Paul & Randy Neugebauer (TX); David Reichert (WA); Thomas Petri, Paul Ryan & Jim Sensenbrenner (WI); and one Member whose signature was unreadable.

Tainted Decision

AS FOCUSED AS CONSERVATIVES HAVE BEEN on the actions of Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts in siding with the radicals among his colleagues, the participation of Justice Elena Kagan in the case is now coming under scrutiny.

“As Solicitor General,” writes Ben Johnson for LifeSiteNews.com, “[Miss] Kagan appointed the head of the legal team that formulated the President’s legal defense of the healthcare reform [law], signaling a possible conflict of interest. Her participation, according to liberals and conservative scholars alike,” writes Mr. Johnson, “casts a pall over the outcome.

“‘Her evident refusal to explain why she hasn’t recused herself, given all the substantial information out there, taints the decision,’ Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton told LifeSiteNews.com.” Judicial Watch has been dragging information about Miss Kagan’s ObamaCare involvement out of the Obama Regime via Freedom of Information Act requests and continues to seek more information but has gathered enough evidence to render suspect her refusal to recuse herself.

Sobering Glee

ONE ENTITY IN AMERICA WAS OVERJOYED with the Roberts ruling on ObamaCare, and rightly so. Few benefit so directly and so financially from the ruling as the abortion industry, and the death dealers’ most vocal spokesmen were gleeful indeed.

“Planned Parenthood called the [law] ‘the greatest advance in women’s health in a generation,’” reports Ben Johnson for LifeSiteNews.com. “Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards said,” he writes, “‘This is a victory for the American people, and we thank Pres. Obama and the Members of Congress who passed the Affordable Care Act for their leadership on this issue.’ …

“A Planned Parenthood press release states,” Mr. Johnson writes, “that one of the ‘key benefits’ of the healthcare [law] is that, starting in August, ‘birth control will be treated like any other preventive prescription under the Affordable Care Act and will be available without co-pays or deductibles.’” To use a plainer word: “free.”

Mr. Johnson quotes Nancy Keenan, soon to leave NARAL as its president: “‘The Affordable Care Act marks the greatest advancement for women’s health in a generation.’” (Wait! Those are the same words Planned Parenthood used. Must simply be a coincidence.)  Mr. Johnson continues, “She called the decision ‘a tremendous victory for American women’ that ‘will bring 30 million Americans into a healthcare system that includes affordable family planning services [and] better access to contraception.’” (What collective bliss!)

Senate G.O.P. Leader Sounds Uncertain Note

SENATE MINORITY LEADER MITCH McCONNELL (R-KY) told a small audience at a hospital in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, last Monday “the odds are against repealing the healthcare law championed by Pres. Barack Obama,” reports the Associated Press (AP).

He said “it’s hard to unravel something of the magnitude of the 2,700-page healthcare law, WHAS-TV reports,” quoted by AP.

“‘If you thought it was a good idea for the federal government to go in this direction, I’d say the odds are still on your side,’ [Sen.] McConnell said. ‘Because it’s a lot harder to undo something than it is to stop it in the first place.’”

On the other hand, the AP report indicates Sen. McConnell “still says he’ll do whatever he can to repeal the law. If given control of the Senate next year, [Mr.] McConnell said he would support using budget reconciliation rules to repeal it. Doing so,” reports AP, “would prohibit Senate filibusters and require only 51 votes to succeed.”

Then Leader McConnell expressed confidence, reports AP, the voters of America “‘are going to give us the votes to repeal it.’”

Rush Limbaugh’s Rallying Cry

Excerpted transcript of Rush Limbaugh in his syndicated radio program, July 3, 2012, reprinted from WND.com

Apparently it hasn’t sunk in yet in the Republican establishment how outrageously bad this [ObamaCare ruling] is. This is why Republicans and conservatives make no progress in pushing back massive government … They [GOP establishment] refuse to accept the reality of what’s going on. And so they try to dress it up. They look for silver linings.

We’re so used to defeat that we try to find a morsel somewhere in the defeat that will make us feel somewhat comfortable and secure, in the midst of a huge defeat. What we need to do and what everybody in that town [Washington] needs to do is get fired up and furious even and push back and find ways to win and beat this thing back into submission.

… We lost a huge case in the Supreme Court. There is no silver lining. What now has to happen is, we regroup. We have to inform as many fellow citizens as possible what is in store for them, their freedom, their health care, their lives, the lives of their children or grandchildren, if this stands.

We have to stop deluding ourselves if we are to beat this back. We can fight to repeal ObamaCare, and we must, but we have to win the next election big. We can’t tolerate any Republican capitulating in advance of this fight or accepting any aspect of Obama.

Letter from Senators & Congressmen to Governors

Dated July 2, 2012

Dear Governors:

The Supreme Court has ruled significant parts of the Medicaid expansion of the President’s healthcare law unconstitutional, as well as ruling that the individual mandate violated the Commerce Clause and will therefore be implemented as a punitive tax on the middle class. This presents us with a critical choice: Do we allow this reprehensible law to move forward or do we fully repeal it and start over with commonsense solutions? The American people have made it clear that they want us to throw this law out in its entirety.

As Members of the US Congress, we are dedicated to the full repeal of this government takeover of health care, and we ask you to join us to oppose its implementation.

Most importantly, we encourage you to oppose any creation of a state healthcare exchange mandated under the President’s discredited healthcare law.

These expensive, complex and intrusive exchanges impose a threat to the financial stability of our already fragile state economies, with no certainty of a limit to total enrollment numbers. Resisting the implementation of exchanges is good for hiring and investment. The law’s employer mandate assesses penalties – up to $3,000 per employee – only to businesses who don’t satisfy federally approved health insurance standards and whose employees receive “premium assistance” through the exchanges. The clear language of the statute only permits federal premium assistance to citizens of states who create a state-based exchange. However, the IRS recently finalized a regulation that contradicts the law by allowing the federal government to provide premium assistance to citizens in those states that have not created exchanges. The IRS had no authority to finalize such a regulation. By refusing to create an exchange, you will assist us in Congress to repeal this violation, which will help lower the costs of doing business in your state, relative to other states that keep these financially draining exchanges in place.

State-run exchanges are subject to all of the same coverage mandates and rules as the federally run exchange. Clearing the hurdles of crafting an exchange that complies with the 600-plus pages of federal exchange regulations will only result in wasted state resources and higher premiums for your constituents.

Implementation of this law is not inevitable, and considering more than half of the American people oppose the law, it is improbable. Join us in resisting a centralized government approach to healthcare reform and instead focus on solutions that make health care more affordable and accessible for every American. Let’s work to create a healthcare system of, for and by the people, not government or special interests.