On the recordJune 28, 2012
I appreciate the gentleman for yielding me a few moments here. Truly, this is a unique day. And I'm happy to join my colleagues in talking about this particular issue. You know, the old cliche is simply, a Supreme Court decision should not be confused with constitutional principles. Today we had one case brought by States to the Supreme Court. And the administration has always said, This ObamaCare is not a tax. It is not a tax. Well, the Court said, on five of the nine decisions, Yes, it is a tax. And I guess it's legal if you call it a tax. Four of the nine said not even that's good enough; but, nonetheless, it's a tax. {time} 1920 It's appropriate that we talk about that power of taxing because the most famous of all cases, McCulloch v. Maryland, which was one the major decisions actually made in this particular building, simply said the power to tax is the power to destroy. And we have that in front of us right now. I don't think we should've expected judges to do what the legislative branch--in this case, Congress--ought do. And I think it's positive that we move forward in this effort to make sure that this program does not go into effect and we take concerns for our constituents and maybe even learn something from it. The idea of judicial review didn't exist for the first decade and a half of this country. Marbury v. Madison didn't happen until almost 15 years into the country.…
