Yep. Hey, it’s his signature legislative achievement, so why shouldn’t he be able to mold and adapt it any which way he likes as various problems and situations arise, right? He’s the executive, and “prosecutorial discretion” is just one of those little perks of the office — never mind that this particular maneuver is a purely short-term fix aimed at staying a political conundrum rather than helping to make the law more viable, and in fact, probably quite the opposite. It is what is is.
Via RCP:
This is entirely lawless. Entirely. And the fact that nobody is talking about this. The executive executes the laws. As you say, this is another example of Obama rewriting a law unilaterally and nobody is complaining. The constitutional issue is out there. I think it’s rather embarrassing that on either side of the aisle it isn’t being raised. In fact, what the White House is doing is saying I don’t want to actually become legislation which would be the constitutional way of doing it. I want it only to be an executive action. I think that there is another irony here, that the Democratic bill by [Senator] Mary Landrieu, who is in deep trouble in Louisiana, she actually said on tape if you like your plan, you’ll be able to keep it. She is the one who wanted to introduce a bill who would allow you to keep it. It is stronger than the Republican bill in the House. It would force the insurers to take you back, and it would be indefinite whereas the Upton, the House bill, the Republican one, is only a year. I do think Harry Reid will kill the bill in the Senate, but in the House, the president was afraid of being embarrassed by a stampede and I think you’re right, this will be cover and only a few of them will go over to the other side.
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