The President has delayed the implementation of the Affordable Care Act’s employer mandate and has publicly declared that the administration will “extend” the legislation’s grandfather clause to those insurance plans not covered by the statute’s text. The Constitution does not delegate legislative authority to the President to rewrite, amend or delay duly-enacted, constitutional laws. Furthermore, lawfully passed changes to the Affordable Care Act codifying the President’s changes to the law have been met with veto threats from the White House.
“The separation of powers represents a fixed star in our constitutional constellation, and the Constitution is clear that ‘all legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States,’” DeSantis said. “The President has a duty to take care that the laws enacted by Congress are faithfully executed; he cannot suspend, delay or amend duly-enacted laws by executive fiat. The Constitution’s structural safeguards are designed to protect individual liberty and to preserve the rule of law. The House must express its disapproval of the President’s actions and defend its constitutional prerogatives.”
Salmon said, “No President has the authority to unilaterally alter, rewrite, or amend what is law. I’d like to reintroduce the president to a historical concept in America called the separation of powers. The Founding Fathers never intended for one branch of government to have all the power while superseding the other branches.
“That is why I joined my colleague Rep. DeSantis to cosponsor legislation that echoes what President Washington said and what Article II Sec. 3 of the Constitution reinforces. If President Obama wants changes to Obamacare he must go through Congress and stop violating the separation of powers,” concluded Salmon.
Reps. DeSantis and Salmon’s resolution does the following:
•Disapproves of the President’s failure to “take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed” as required by the Constitution;
•Disapproves of the President’s usurpation of the legislative power of Congress through the rewriting of key provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act; and
•Reaffirms that the preservation of the Constitution’s separation of powers is essential for the protection of individual liberty and the maintenance of the rule of law.