By Brandon Moseley
Alabama Political Reporter
Congressman Spencer Bachus (R) from Vestavia issued a written statement after oral arguments concluded at the U.S. Supreme Court on the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (better known as Obamacare).
Rep. Bachus said, “My view from inside the legislative process was always that Obamacare represented a vast overreach by the government and would do irreparable damage to America’s health care system. At a cost now estimated at $2.6 trillion, Obamacare will cause millions of people to lose their current coverage and impose crushing costs on small businesses and job creators. Along with many colleagues, I submitted a legal brief to the court on the unconstitutionality of the government mandate to buy insurance that is the centerpiece of the law. As we await a ruling from the justices, I remain convinced that Congress could best serve the nation by repealing Obamacare and replacing it with common sense reforms to make health care more affordable and accessible without unnecessarily putting the federal government between patients and their doctors.”
Congressman Bachus filed an amicus brief supporting the case of the 26 states (including Alabama) In that brief Bachus and the other filers of the Amicus Brief said, “The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit correctly ruled that the individual mandate is unconstitutional because it exceeds Congress’s powers under Article I of the United States Constitution.” They also argued that the eleventh circuit Court of Appeals should have declared the whole act unconstitutional saying that the individual mandate could not be severed from the act and the rest of the act stand without it.
Congressman Bachus opposed and voted against Obamacare when it was before the Congress in March 2010. Then the Democrats controlled the House of Representatives and Nancy Pelosi (D) from California was the Speaker of the House and strongly pushed for passage of the bill.
Then Congressman Bachus argued on the floor of the House: “In our Declaration of Independence, our Forefathers declared that we are endowed by the Creator with certain inalienable rights. The first is life. Yet the bill that we are voting on today would permit the public funding of abortion in any number of programs to take an innocent life formed by our Creator within a matter of months, weeks, or even days. The very first act by our government on this innocent and defenseless life would be to end it. Our forefathers could not comprehend such an outrageous act.”
Congressman Bachus has a perfect score on life issues from National Right To Life PAC and is endorsed by them in his bid to seek an 11th term in the United States Congress. Retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Penny Huggins Bailey (D) from Leeds is challenging Rep. Bachus in November 6th. The Sixth District includes all or parts of Jefferson, Blount, Shelby, Chilton, Coosa, and Bibb Counties.
To read Congressman Bachus’s Statement in its entirety:
http://bachus.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1261
