John Ensign: “I want to talk for a while on the Hutchison amendment which says that, while the health care reform bill President Obama…”

“I want to talk for a while on the Hutchison amendment which says that, while the health care reform bill President Obama and the majority passed last year is going through the courts, any related provisions would be put on hold until the courts decide whether the law is constitutional. This is an important amendment because States and private companies are being forced to spend a lot of money putting programs into place that may not have to be put into place if this bill is indeed struck down as unconstitutional. During the health care debate last year, I raised a constitutional point of order against the individual mandate because, frankly, I believe strongly that it is unconstitutional. A few of the courts around the country have agreed with me and ruled that it is unconstitutional. Unfortunately, that constitutional point of order was voted down along party lines. There is still a very good possibility--and I am hoping the courts will see it this way--that this bill will be struck down as unconstitutional because there are no ``severability clauses'' in the legislation. In other words, if one part is found unconstitutional, the entire bill is unconstitutional. The individual mandate is the place most people are focusing on. If that is struck down as unconstitutional, the whole bill will come down.…”