On the recordSeptember 23, 2010
I appreciate my friend from Iowa pointing out some of the problems with the ObamaCare bill and one of the things that just made it a dishonest bill from the beginning. We know this is language from the Constitution itself, Article I, section 7, ``all bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with Amendments as on other Bills.'' Well, if you go back and look at the legislative history of the ObamaCare bill, you find out that actually that was a bill that was to help veterans with tax credits, as I recall, for the first-time home purchase. It was a bill that originated out of the House because you've got to comply with Article I, section 7, all bills to raise revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives, and that bill obviously had bunches of taxes in it, even though the President assured us over and over that it was not a tax itself. Certainly it raised revenue. And the Senate knew that. And the President, although his attorney general now disagrees with him--certainly he didn't back at the time. The President said it's not a tax; it's not a tax. Well, now they are saying, well, maybe it is a tax. Regardless, there's revenue raised in the bill, so it should have had to have complied with Article I, section 7. But we all know that it was the Senate ObamaCare bill that came down here, and we had to vote for it without being able to amend it.
