Politics

On Obamacare repeal, litigation marches on while Republicans remove pieces of the law

Jonathan Strong Jonathan Strong, 27, is a reporter for the Daily Caller covering Congress. Previously, he was a reporter for Inside EPA where he wrote about environmental regulation in great detail, and before that a staffer for Rep. Dan Lungren (R-CA). Strong graduated from Wheaton College (IL) with a degree in political science in 2006. He is a huge fan of and season ticket holder to the Washington Capitals hockey team. Strong and his wife reside in Arlington.
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One year after President Barack Obama signed his health care bill into law, a majority of states are battling to overturn it in federal court while Republicans dismantle the law piece-by-piece in Congress and thirst for full repeal.

The seemingly ever-increasing momentum for repeal – the public now favors repeal by 11 points in polls – is turning conventional wisdom on its head that massive new entitlements are cemented in place once they secure enactment.

But even as two federal judges have deemed the law unconstitutional, the Obama administration is racing to implement the law, creating significant uncertainty for business.

Meanwhile, Democrats have sought to bolster public support for the law with a series of public relations surges. Liberals say conservative exaggerations about the law are driving much of its unpopularity.

Jan. 19, the House voted to repeal Obamacare in full. Three Democrats voted for the repeal bill, along with every Republican.

Both the Senate and the House have passed legislation to repeal potentially the single most unpopular provision in the health care law, a burdensome paperwork requirement on small businesses that had nothing to do with health care but was included to increase tax revenues.

House Speaker John Boehner says he is committed to dismantling the law piece-by-piece if Democrats in the Senate and President Obama will not acquiesce to Republicans’ demand the law be scrapped.

“If the Senate won’t join us in passing a bill repealing Obamacare all at once, we’ll work to repeal it step-by-step,” Boehner said in a recent video.

Meanwhile, a series of lawsuits could pose the single greatest threat to the law, as the Supreme Court is likely to soon decide on the law’s constitutionality.

Two federal courts have deemed the law unconstitutional. Judge Roger Vinson of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida ruled Jan. 31 that the law must be declared void “in full.”

A key legal issue is whether the law’s “individual mandate,” which imposes a fee on individuals that do not purchase health insurance, is within Congress’s authority under the Commerce Clause, which grants Congress the power to regulate interstate commerce.

Three federal courts have ruled the law is constitutional, while others have dismissed the case on procedural grounds.

Armies of lawyers on both sides of the issue are already strategizing about which arguments they will make to the Supreme Court, where Justice Anthony Kennedy’s vote is expected to decide the matter on a 5-4 vote.

Public support for the law continues to decrease, although many provisions in the law have not yet gone into effect.

A Real Clear Politics poll average shows the public backing full repeal of the law by 11 points. A Pollster.com average shows the public’s support of Obama on health care issues has only decreased since November, when Republicans were swept back into control of the House.

According to the Pollster.com average, 53.5 percent of the public disapproves of Obama on health care, while 39.7 approves, an almost 14 point gap.

Still, even moderate Democrats in the Senate have shown little appetite for full repeal of the law, and Obama is vowing to protect it from Republican assault.

Given the continued resonance of the issue, Obamacare will play a major role in the 2012 presidential elections.