The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule next month on whether Obamacare’s subsidies for those needing help buying insurance will remain in place, but House Speaker John Boehner is touting his own challenge to the President’s signature health care law.
Oral arguments are scheduled to begin on Thursday in federal district court in Washington on the lawsuit brought by the House of Representatives last November, which argues the Obama administration overstepped its authority when it made changes to the law.
The administration is trying to get the case dismissed on the grounds that the House does not have standing to challenge the executive branch’s handling of the law.
The House lawsuit zeroes in on two changes to Obamacare implemented by the administration. The brief filed on behalf of the House maintains the decision to waive the requirement that employers provide health care coverage isn’t expressly called for in the law.
It also argues that the $175 billion paid by the Treasury Department to insurers was “an unlawful giveaway” because Congress never approved the money. The brief cites the “power of the purse” assigned to Congress under the U.S. Constitution.
“Time and again, the President has chosen to rewrite the law whenever it suits him, ignoring the will of the American people and the Constitution itself,” Boehner said in a written statement issued Wednesday.
“No one — especially no president — is above accountability to the Constitution and the rule of law,” he said.
House Democrats insist the Obama administration acted appropriately, and have denounced the lawsuit as a waste of taxpayer resources.
George Washington University Law Professor Jonathan Turley will argue the case on behalf of the House of Representatives.
