Political Quotes

“I rise today to speak about the Supreme Court's ruling this morning in the case involving the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate. In that case, the Supreme Court rendered a decision that may be spun by many, perceived by many, as a victory for the proponents of the controversial individual mandate contained within the Affordable Care Act. I would submit today, however, that this victory, if it is being called that, will prove to be not only hollow but also short lived. I say that because, significantly, the Supreme Court was able to uphold the constitutionality of the mandate only by a series of gymnastics that allowed the Court to find this was a tax. First, the Court addressed the issue and concluded, for only the third time in the last 75 years--only the third time since 1937--that Congress had, in fact, exceeded its power as asserted under the commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution. Having concluded that Congress lacks the authority to compel commerce, the creation of commerce so that it could then regulate commerce, the Supreme Court went on to shoehorn this individual mandate provision into the Supreme Court's conception of Congress's taxing power. This awkward construction is one that exposes many of the true flaws of the individual mandate. The mandate itself, we must remember, was not wildly popular among the American people at the time it was enacted.…”