Politics

Wisconsin legislators call for arrest of federal officials implementing Obamacare

Zachary Snider Contributor
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Nine members of the Wisconsin state legislature say they plan to back a bill to arrest federal officials who try to implement Obamacare.

The state’s Republican Gov. Scott Walker must decide by Friday whether the state will draft a health care exchange plan under Obamacare or surrender the task to the federal government.

“Just because Obama was re-elected does not mean he’s above the Constitution,” Republican state Rep. Chris Kapenga told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.

Of the nine Republicans who advocated arresting federal officials, eight have also said on record that they want to write a law that would permit prosecuting TSA agents who physically search passengers with sexual assault.

Additionally, all nine told a tea party-aligned group that they supported the passing of  legislation that would allow people to carry guns without first acquiring a permit, allow people to buy raw or unpasteurized milk, allow people to carry guns without state permits and block state funding for federal Real ID laws that require states to develop more secure driver’s licenses.

Kapenga said that he doesn’t think “right-to-work” laws, which bar private-sector labor contracts from including provisions that require employees to join unions as conditions of employment, will be passed in the upcoming congressional session, even with Republican majorities in the state assembly and senate.

“I very much support right to work, but do I think it’s realistic? No. I don’t think we’ll have the political capital to do it,” Kapenga said.

Republicans were able to pass a bill in the last session allowing people to get permits from the state to carry concealed weapons, ending Wisconsin’s lengthy ban on the practice.

Democrats in the Wisconsin State Legislature were not immediately available for comment.

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