The Imperial Presidency

Just as it relates to Obamacare, the President and his administration are violating numerous specific provisions of the law.  Not vague "subject to interpretation" provisions, but clear and unequivocal.  His administrations actions aren't defensible, although I suppose his defenders will come up with something.

Here is an excerpt from the article by Michael Cannon over at Cato.  The red text is hyper links in the original article, which you can read here.

Obamacare, which Congress passed and President Obama signed, literally and immediately forbade the administration to provide health insurance to members of Congress and their staffs through the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program. That is, federal law required the Obama administration to throw nearly all members of Congress and congressional staff out of their health plans. But because that might lead Congress to reopen the statute, the Obama administration decided to keep providing that coverage to members and staff in violation of federal law, and has been doing so for three years.

Shortly after its enactment, Obamacare began increasing health insurance premiums. To prevent a(n even greater) backlash, Obama’s HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius started waiving select mandates for select companies and unions. Congress gave her no authority to issue such waivers.

When health insurers began to inform customers how much Obamacare was increasing their premiums, Sebelius threatened to use her powers under the law to bankrupt any insurer that conveyed an unapproved message about the law. All insurers quickly complied.

As it became clear that dozens of states would refuse to implement Obamacare’s health insurance “exchanges,” the IRS announced it would implement the law’s tax credits, subsidies, and taxes in states with federal fallback exchanges – even though Obamacareclearly, repeatedly, consistently, and intentionally prohibits the IRS from doing so. The IRS has literally asserted the authority to tax, borrow, and spend more than $1 trillion contrary to the express will of Congress.

Despite the Supreme Court’s ruling that the federal government cannot coerce states into implementing Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion, the Obama administration continues to coerce states into implementing most of the expansion’s provisions. The Court’s opinion flatly contradicts the administration’s claim that the ruling applied only to one part of the expansion. 

When it became clear that Congress would not fund Obamacare’s implementation, Sebelius decided she would again substitute her judgment for Congress’s by using money Congress had dedicated to other purposes. She has since approached companies she regulates to shake them down, tacitly, for funds to implement the law. 

And now, the IRS will delay the implementation of a central component of the law. Again, the administration is unilaterally rewriting federal law with the transparent purpose of avoiding an even greater political backlash against Obamacare.