The administration’s contraception rule, and subsequent “accommodation,” has been a case study in how to violate the Constitution not with stealth, but with cynicism. But there’s more we can do than simply express outrage. Congress can — and should — kill the rule.
The Congressional Review Act (CRA), which I authored while serving in Congress, gives legislators 60 days to introduce Resolutions of Disapproval to nullify a rule after it has been published. The Resolutions of Disapproval enjoy expedited procedures and therefore serve as the perfect tool for Congress to move expeditiously to make Team Obama’s unconstitutional rule history. The law allows 30 senators to discharge any committee action and bring it to the Senate floor, where it can be passed with a majority vote after no more than five hours of debate.
The House should utilize the CRA to vote on contraception rule immediately, and the Senate should get busy gathering the 30 signatures.
So far, however, congressional leaders have not used the CRA as a way to confront the rule, which is unfortunate. The debate the Obama administration has started with the rule has now moved into the presidential race, and the media is doing its best to focus on the whole thing as the latest installment of culture war they love to cover — and caricature. Meanwhile, Congress has largely avoided making direct contact with what many perceive as a toxic issue that will make achieving other priorities more challenging.
It’s not toxic, though. And we’re not actors in the cartoonish culture war the media wants to talk about. We are rather individuals directly affected by an unconstitutional act by the executive of the United States. That’s what the debate should be about. Congress is in the best position — because of the authority the Constitution gives it, after all — to refocus the debate, and to conduct it swiftly.
— David McIntosh was an Indiana congressman from 1995 to 2001. He is currently running in Indiana’s new 5th congressional district for the U.S. House of Representatives.
I suspect they will not kill the mandate because a) They are cravens and b) the controversy is something they see that can help them stay in power, or get more power. The few members of the GOP that are not utterly corrupt or cowed in DC will be drown out by their leaders.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI hope Mr. McIntosh is working the phones, I doubt the newbies elected in 2010 know this perhaps one of them such as Tim Scott, Allen West, PatToomey, Rand Paul would try to use this to get rid of the mandate but the focus must be on the full repeal of ObamaCare, this will not be the last mandate. GOP leaderships cannot be trusted, newbies, this is why we sent you there.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseSaying that the mandate is unconstitutional doesn't make it so. There is quite a bit of precedent on the issues raised by the mandate. Scalia on a number of occasions has ruled in ways which lead me to think that he wouldn't think that the mandate is unconstitutional.
Anton Scalia, "They assert, in other words, that “prohibiting the free exercise [of religion]” includes requiring any individual to observe a generally applicable law that requires (or forbids) the performance of an act that his religious belief forbids (or requires). As a textual matter, we do not think the words must be given that meaning. It is no more necessary to regard the collection of a general tax, for example, as “prohibiting the free exercise [of religion]” by those citizens who believe support of organized government to be sinful, than it is to regard the same tax as “abridging the freedom … of the press” of those publishing companies that must pay the tax as a condition of staying in business."
There are many more examples at the below link
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Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIf this is constitutional, then there is no limit to the amount of power the federal govt can grab.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseUh the majority of the public approves of the mandate. Why would they kill it and go against public sentiment?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThe more Republicans talk about this the more they are driving independent women to the Democrats. It is a losing issue for the GOP and to suggest that Congress, with their might 9% approval rating, should be devoting their time in figuring out ways that would limit contraceptive coverage for women is incredibly suicidal. Guys, take a look at the poll results regarding women supporting Romney. It is plummeting. Do you even wonder why?
Look at the charts here and then tell me that the GOP should continue to bring up this issue.
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Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIf that's true, then we should just go ahead and surrender to the socialists now.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseBaloney. They should kill Obamacare, not nitpick in the morass of the details for political gain. This hesitation by the GOP on tackling Obamacare head on, using the contraception mandate, is disgusting. Even as a majority of Americans still oppose Obamacare!
It sure isn't because of anything the GOP has been saying.
Yeah, yeah, I know the Senate won't act on it. So what? Start laying the groundwork now. Introduce legislation in the House to repeal Obamacare in full. One line.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbusePerhaps I shouldn't be this way, but I don't want the legislature to overturn the contraception mandate. I want as much of it, if not all, struck down through the courts and/or the whole thing overturned by congress. What I don't want is for obama-care to be made more palatable.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseSo, let's set aside the irony of the Roman Catholic Church, which has long been a strong supporter of the type of nationalized, top down, one size fits all, health care that is Obamacare, being one of the first to be forced to do things it doesn't want to do.
We don't have a lot of time to get rid of Obamacare. If we get rid of Obamacare, then this problem goes away. If we don't, then there will be many more problems, and we can spend the rest of our lives (and the rest of the lives of our kids, grandkids etc) trying to get special deals cut to limit the harm that Obamacare causes us. We don't need to waste our limited resources on this fight, but should be working on showing every American how they will benefit from electing a Republican President, House and Senate to get rid of the entire thing.
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