WASHINGTON -- House Speaker John Boehner's (R-Ohio) lawsuit against President Barack Obama will focus on the administration's unilateral changes to the health care law's employer mandate, according to a draft resolution released on Thursday.
 |
| Boehner |
The resolution, which Boehner is likely to bring to the House floor this month, would authorize the House General Counsel to initiate litigation against Obama and "compel" the president to enforce the law. In a statement, the speaker said Obama had violated the Constitution last year by delaying the employer mandate under the Affordable Care Act.
"In 2013, the president changed the health care law without a vote of Congress, effectively creating his own law by literally waiving the employer mandate and the penalties for failing to comply with it," Boehner said.
The Obama administration announced last year that the government would not penalize businesses that failed to provide health insurance in 2014, thus delaying the law's so-called employer mandate until 2015. The White House also postponed the start date for some mid-sized businesses.
Administration officials said the decision to delay the provision was made after considering a flood of complaints from business owners, who asked for additional time to meet the health care law's requirements. The officials were unable to pinpointwhen the decision was made, or whether it was ultimately decided by the White House or the Treasury Department.
A Treasury spokesman previously said the delay was based on the department's "longstanding authority to grant transition relief when implementing new legislation," according to the trade publication Government Executive. more
No comments:
Post a Comment