Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, late in June of 2012, like many Americans, I anxiously awaited a ruling by the Supreme Court of the United States while they were considering the constitutionality of the individual mandate. Of course, we were told during the run-up to that law, the Affordable Care Act law, that the individual mandate was not a tax; it was, in fact, just a requirement that everyone should buy the insurance. It seemed unreasonable under the Commerce Clause that that requirement, in fact, would be constitutional. Then, at the end of June, the Supreme Court made the ruling. I was probably right that it was unconstitutional under the Commerce Clause. But with some creative work, the Supreme Court said: It is a tax, and the Congress has the absolute power to tax; so, of course, it can stay in the law, and the law stands. So here we are today, considering tax reform for the first time in 31 years. And since the Supreme Court told us the individual mandate is indeed a tax, it is appropriate, it is right that the individual mandate be part of the discussion today. The House bill, when we passed it, did not include anything on the individual mandate; but the Senate, in their wisdom, sent it back to us with the individual mandate repealed. Now, make no mistake about it, the House has repealed the individual mandate any number of times over the last several years. The Senate has not.…”